Under The Moonlight
by PandaDee
Summary: I would not be like my father. I would not fall in love with a human, much less Inuyasha's worthless Miko. But...when had I let her make me so weak? When had I begun to feel empowered by such weakness? And when she left me, why did my heart begin to long for her smile, for her warmth? It didn't matter...nothing mattered anymore. I'd do whatever it took to find her again. M! :D
1. Encounter

**A/N: So, this is gonna be an MA content story, just saying, so none of you go all "omg you didn't warn me there would be sex and shit." Well, there will be lemons, some really bad language, some mature scenes. :) Don't read if you're not mature enough to absorb it.**

**This isn't my first Inuyasha fanfic, just the first one I've published on FF in a LONG time. :) I'm in love with the kag/fluffy pairing so here is one :D**

**Thanks,**

**-Panda**

**Chapter One**

**Encounter**

"_I love you," I smiled, blushing up at him from where we sat atop the cherry tree. His eyes widened and his mouth popped open audibly before he started laughing at me. My eyes fell and I found him shaking his head at me like I was a stupid little girl. Maybe I was, for assuming after the many kisses we'd shared he felt something too. _

_He pushed me off the branch and I felt on my butt, staring up at him in shock. Had his eyes always been so cold? "You don't know what love is, dumbass." _

_How could I not know the feeling erupting through my own chest whenever we were together? How could I not feel this warmth, even now as he glared down at me. "There's only one human in this world that I've ever loved and she's dead," he growled hatefully and I felt my heart shatter into pieces. The tears were already spilling down my cheeks when he stood up on the branch. "So focus on our mission so I can get revenge and join her in the afterlife." _

So here I was in the forest, wandering with tears flowing down my cheeks in the rain until I found a spring hidden by a canopy of trees that would soothe the tender ache in my chest. It hurt to even touch my own skin. I was so hurt, so lost, so confused…but most of all I felt desolation and solace creeping up on me. There was nothing for me in this time now except the rock that hung across my neck, glimmering beneath the water. How could I ever compare to the woman that he truly loved? How could I ever compare to Kikyo?

"Stupid Inuyasha!" I almost shouted the words into the woods, I was so mad and hurt by his words! I'd never been this pissed off at him in the entire time I'd known him. "Stupid stubborn, two-timing…_hanyou_!" I couldn't believe the words I'd actually said, blushing at the strength of what they meant as I covered my mouth in shame. I sounded like Sesshomaru with those words that tasted like vinegar in my mouth. Inuyasha was half human and half demon, but it was the human part that seemed to be getting in the damn way all the time. The human part that irrevocably loved her and the demon part that was loyal only to her.

But it was meant to happen this way, wasn't it? I sunk down further into the warm hot springs I'd escaped to after I saw them together when he'd run from me and sighed. No matter how much of his heart was human, Inuyasha had already filled it and there wasn't any room for me there. "I don't even know why I bother." I spoke lowly to myself as I wrapped my arms around my naked form.

"It's not like he'd ever love me like he loves…_her._" I didn't even want to say her name. "No matter what I do I'm not good enough." Wasn't that the truth? I watched the mess of stars above me: this era was so beautiful, so peaceful, but I'd never felt my heart break more in my own time than it had here. That was my mistake for falling in love with someone who could never love me back. Was I even meant to stand beside him anymore? Was I meant for something deeper, something that I could feel, even now, blossoming in my chest?

Ever since I'd fallen down the well in my modern day home about a year ago, I'd come to find a best friend – the hanyou – who I cared too much about over the time we spent underneath the stars here. I imagined him, standing above me as he protected me from the evil of this world, and saw the hero I'd dreaming of when every girl played princess in their bedroom at night. His white hair spread out across his back, his ears twitching as I smiled and tried to play with them, only to get glared at. He was the first person I saw when I came here and even though he'd called me by the name of the woman he loved in the past, I couldn't help but feel something deeper from that day forward.

We'd gained a lot of friends since that day, though, the first of which being the little cub I'd taken as my own named Shippo, the fox demon. His family was killed be two demons that only desired the Sacred Jewel shards; from the jewel that I, in my most graceful moment, broke. I'd taken him as my own since that day and watched him grow in strength and wisdom. He was the best son any woman could ever hope to raise. The second was a pervert monk named Miroku who only wanted to have a child to live on his legacy of destroying the demon that plagued his family for generations, and now that very same demon haunted my life. I was cursed to protect this rock, I glared at the thing hanging between my breasts, because of that demon. If he wasn't created, I would be free to love…to laugh, to find happiness in this life. But the last person to join our group of misfits was a demon slayer named Sango who was as beautiful as she was deadly with her mighty strength and Hiraikotsu boomerang that could kill a dozen demons with one throw. She and Miroku fallen in love almost immediately and were inseparable now, but at the beginning of our journey together – and even into the days I knew were to come in my future, she was my sister. I loved her like my own family.

But…my feelings for Inuyasha, the half-demon, were the very reason I could still see Kikyo in his arms in my memories. Kikyo, the tragic fallen priestess raised from the dead, standing beside a tree with love in her eyes while Inuyasha pulled her close and their lips met like magnets that had been searching through time to meet each other. They had been betrayed be the demon that plagued us all: Naraku. Their story was probably the most heartbreaking of them all. The day Inuyasha was to use the Jewel to become a demon, Naraku disguised himself as Kikyo and created a betrayal on both sides. I could kill him for causing so much heartache. But when I same them, standing there in the forest, I felt stupid for even having followed him away from camp when his ears twitched and he ran off. Who was I to keep them apart any longer?

And it wasn't long until my intrusion on their moment caused me further embarrassment. I saw Kikyo had pressed herself into him and tears poured from her undead eyes as she confessed she'd missed him so much more than she missed life itself. And he swore the same before I saw her kimono discarded on the forest floor and got the hell out of there before my face melted from blushing so much. I didn't want to see her love him like I wanted to love him. Like I did love him. My heart throbbed in my chest.

Their love had lasted even after death. How was I, a fifteen year old klutz that fell down a well, broke a sacred relic embedded below my skin, supposed to compete with _that_?

Rustling came from the bushes in front of me, and I froze in all of my misery to look up to see a very unfamiliar face glaring down at me. Well, the momentary horror of being alone in the woods with a feral demon without my weapons had vanished, but it was replaced with a sense of curiosity and shyness. His fine white hair was flowing in the wind behind him, beyond the mist, and I almost blushed at how warm his eyes were as they saw me. I'd always thought he was sort of beautiful, and here in the mist and moonlight, I knew I wasn't mistaken. What the hell was I talking about? Sesshomaru being _handsome_? But…it wasn't exactly untrue. Why had I never noticed the way his emotions were so very clear through his eyes? Had this feeling, like the earth had stopped moving, always been in my chest when he was around?

I shook my head to clear the thoughts and stammered up at him. "W-what are you doing here?" I wondered, covering myself with my hair enough so that he couldn't see my body beneath the water. I already knew he wouldn't even want to but still, I played the 'for my own honor' card.

He made a noise of disapproval in the back of his throat. "Do not flatter yourself, girl. Where is Inuyasha? I followed his stench here." He averted his eyes and I knew I was imagining the red flaring across his cheeks – delusional and hallucinating. Way to go, Kags. What the hell was he looking at anyway? I stood and grabbed the spare bathing kimono I borrowed from Kaede while his eyes were otherwise occupied.

I glared stubbornly back at him after putting it on, and Sesshomaru met my gaze again. Well at least the red tint across his pale cheeks had left my imagination, at least. "Inuyasha, why would he be with me when his precious Kikyo is wandering through the woods at night? Just follow the stench of death and graveyard dirt and you'll find them together. I'm not even good enough to be noticed." I spat, sounding more like a woman scorned than a priestess in training when I sat back down in the water. I removed the Kimono again, feeling it was incredibly useless in this situation anyway. What was the point of taking a bath with clothes on? He frowned then and I was surprised I wasn't dead for speaking to him that way, with such disrespect.

I was quick to apologize though. He didn't deserve the rage I felt inside. "I'm sorry, Sesshomaru-sama," I never addressed the demon without his title like Inuyasha did, "please, forgive the bitterness in my voice, it wasn't directed towards you." I apologized after lathering up my hair with the only thing I'd brought from my home this time. I sighed at the tangy chai smell and shut my eyes in pure bliss. _Thank you shampoo gods._

I sighed, knowing he had to have left by now, and felt clean for what was the first time in weeks. So you bet I was surprised to look up and see he was staring at me with a questioning look on his emotionless face. What, hadn't he ever seen Shampoo? You'd think with all of that hair he'd know what it was, right? "If Inuyasha displeases you so, why do you stay beside him? Why not find someone of better company?" He wondered and I couldn't help the way my eyes were bugging out of my head. Why in the world would he care about me and my feelings? Didn't he hate all humans?

"I-I can't leave him. He needs me to look for the jewel shards-"

"You certainly are capable of doing that alone, perhaps with the monk or the demon slayer." He speculated, looking at me like I was stupid for even saying that his half-brother needed me.

…Didn't he?

"I guess, but-"

"What is the reason behind your hesitation?" He stepped closer to the stream and frowned deeply, almost showing some sort of emotion. "What compels you to stay with that worthless hanyou when obviously all he does is upset you to the point of tears? Even a human doesn't deserve to be in misery _all _the time." He countered, glaring at me like I'd offended him. Maybe I had, just by being here in his presence nakedly. What the hell did he even care anyway? So what if I stayed with Inuyasha stupidly? At least I got to see him…pretend he was mine even when he was. How pathetic.

My nostrils flared from the grieving emotions this youkai sparked in me and I stood, putting my hands on my hips. "Why do you even care, it's not like it matters to you what I do. If I wanna make myself miserable, what's it to you?"

He smirked then like he had realized some great, unknown truth. "I see now. You stay, girl, because you're in love with him – a worthless half-demon gaining the love of a young priestess. I might get sick. You should know, priestess, all he will do is hurt you because he loves that woman and not you. He's too naïve to love another, girl." My eyes left his when tears gathered in them and he snorted at me. I didn't care if he saw this as weakness, my tears were bitter and gave me strength to go on when I felt like everything else was hopeless. I cured him, but his voice was not his own when he spoke the next words to me, but that of a deep snarl from a man possessed and I didn't understand how he would ever come to take on such a seductive tone – _around me_. "…Inuyasha isn't deserving of you, anyway."

My head shot up in shock but before I could gape at him like a fish out of water, he was gone. It was like he hadn't even been there. Sesshomaru, the unfeeling demon brother of the man I loved, just said Inuyasha wasn't deserving of me? What did _he_ think of me, then? I blushed and got out of the water, feeling completely exposed because I was standing with erect nipples in the chilled air, the dip between my legs exposed to his long-gone eyes. I wrapped myself up in the spare kimono Kaede let me borrow because if Sesshomaru was in the woods, other demons weren't.

What the hell could Sesshomaru have meant anyway? Did I imagine the blush across his cheeks when he found me naked – without Inuyasha by my side? Did I image the snarl of possession in his voice, the way his eyes trailed all the way down to my full hips? More importantly, after speaking to him like that, why wasn't I lying face down in a ditch somewhere? My heart thudded at the way he looked at me, his guarded eyes full of understanding and a sadness I never knew his heart had experienced, while he defended me against his most hated family member.

"Whatever," I sighed hopelessly. "Like it meant anything, knowing him, anyway. Like I meant something to Sesshomaru for one second in his terrible life where his only purpose is supreme conquest, not flirting with priestesses in hot springs. Please. I've gotta be delusional. I'd put my money on him trying to separate me and Inuyasha so he can kill us both easier." I smiled at the conclusion, accepting it fully. I let the sinking feeling in my chest from seeing Inuyasha on top of Kikyo out of my memories, and headed back toward where Miroku and Sango had set up camp this night. We were only a few hours out of the village, but it had grown dark before we could travel any further.

When I came into the clearing filled with wildflowers and the smell of smoke from the fire, I smiled at the monk, wrapped up in the woman he really loved, and sat opposite them beside the fire. Miroku and Sango would never admit it to Inuyasha or I, but they were in love and had been for a long time – now I was just waiting for the cute little babies to come! At least two of us had found love in this feuding era that seemed to go on forever. I jumped, startled, as Inuyasha walked back into the clearing, looking dazed as I glared at him from afar. I hoped my aura was black with rage because that's what my heart raced with.

Unfortunately, it looked like _someone_ got lucky. I shuddered and poked the fire with a stick, making it pop and sizzle in the night. I wasn't hungry. I lost my appetite the moment I left them alone in the woods. "Kagome," he asked after seeing me for the first time in hours, and I didn't question where he had been. "Are you alright? You seem…different." He wondered, sniffing me as I glanced quickly over at him. Oh, I was the one who was different now? I wasn't the one sneaking around the woods with people! Well…I had, but I wasn't sneaking, Sesshomaru was.

I glared and unrolled my pink sleeping bag. "I'm fine." Ice ran out of my mouth and he backed away, his eyes large at how coldly I glared. I was trying to imitate his older brother and I think it did just the trick. "How's Kikyo?" I wondered, changing the subject to one that made my heart scream in my chest. Obviously his previous words that were thrown at me before he found himself between her legs had affected me more than he thought they would. I hoped he saw the pain in my eyes; I wanted him to feel the anguish inside of my heart.

His face said it all. He went bright red, all the way to the white ears on top of his head, and he didn't meet my gaze. I nodded at the supposition he'd just drawn, and lied on the ground, facing the bushes, and sighed at the way he grumbled and tried to reason with me. I shut my eyes before the tears could fall, thinking of the only thing on my mind after what had happened in the hot springs and found peace as I thought of his face, barred by a crescent moon on his forehead. His golden eyes filled to the brim with warmth as he took me into his arms and led me into my dreams.

**A/N: What do y'all think? :D I like it so far. :) **

**-Panda**


	2. Wounds and Rin's Will

**A/N: Alright, this is gonna be kinda weird, but I've combined chapters two and three because they just felt like they belonged together. The story will still say 24 chapters cause I'm too fucking lazy to change that. **

**So, this is Wounds and Rin's Will put in one like an everything burrito n_n**

**Chapter Two**

**Wounds and Rin's Will **

I had woken before anyone else had, blinking the sleep out of my eyes, and saw Inuyasha sitting beside me with a worried look on his sleep-ridden face. It served him right, leaving me and going to her in the middle of the night when anything could have come out and attacked us all. I let out a sigh and sat up, stretching my aching muscles so I might not wake any of my sleeping comrades – except for the one with two cute dog ears and extra sensitive hearing. Inuyasha stood with me, taking my hand as I turned toward the dark forest. At one time in my life I might've blushed from his touch, but right now I wanted to tear his hand off and feed it to him. I wanted to be alone, away from him and the thoughts of what he must have done with Kikyo after I saw him untie her Miko uniform. I couldn't look at his face, I didn't want him to see me crying and I didn't want to hear the moan on her lips as he kissed down her bare neck in my memories.

So I turned toward the looming pines, the soaring sequoias and thought of the golden, angry eyes that met me last night in the hot spring.

"Kagome, I'm sorry. I had to-"

"You had to see Kikyo," I finished for him, my eyes on the grassy ground. As always when I was sad, I found myself smiling at the grass. "I know, Inuyasha. I know I'm not ever going to be able to be beside you the way she is, no matter how hard I try. So it's alright." And did I even care anymore, after the…dream I had last night? I blushed when he froze beside me and his mouth hung open like he was trying to deny his feelings for the dead woman, but couldn't. I wasn't thinking about Inuyasha anymore, but the demon from last night in my slumber. I watched the blush run across Inuyasha's face and shut my eyes to gaze upon Sesshomaru's through the mist of unconsciousness.

He wrapped his purple marked arms around me and looked into my eyes – this wasn't the Sesshomaru I knew, but one my mind needed to create to escape the pain and betrayal I'd gotten from his half-brother. I almost smiled at the impossibility of it all. It was irrational. I'd be better suited spending my time thinking about killing Naraku by myself.

But my delusions hadn't ended there. I bit my lip when I let my head fall to his muscular chest and sighed as his heart beat steadily below the kimono. I didn't even know if he had a heart. His hands ran through my hair and when I looked up at those luscious golden eyes – full of a carnal want – and his soft lips pressed to mine. I woke up from my fantasies, but I could still feel the electricity from our lips connecting, feel him pressing me up against him with a want to claim what was rightfully his.

"_Mine,"_ his growl spread across my skin and I gasped.

_But I'm not his!_ My eyes widened and I was sure I was deep red by now, for real apparent reason. Belonging to Sesshomaru! He'd kill me just for thinking of it.

But I had to see him now, despite myself. I didn't know why I had to see him, and would probably die when I did, if not by his own hands, but I needed to see his face again. I needed to know there was nothing in those eyes – nothing but hatred for me and every human that walked this earth. Unlike last night when he saw me in the hot springs and looked…offended. Offended that I'd put myself in harm's way to keep someone I loved happy.

Inuyasha turned me to face him but I hid my face behind my hair and wiped away the tears before he could see them fall. If I saw his worried eyes I'd never be able to leave, I knew myself too well. I cared too much. My heart thumped unsteadily from his touch, even though my mind spited me for it.

"Where are you going?" Inuyasha asked when I tugged free of his hold on me and straightened out the kimono across my shoulders. I glared back at him. I was so angry. I'd never been so angry before!

"Sit! Sit, sit, sit, sit, SIT!" I shouted, letting out said anger in the process: it left me exhausted, but satisfied at the bone crunching sound he made each time he hit the earth.

He fell to the ground, shaking it with the force of the emotion in my voice, and woke the people around me. Sango stood with her weapon, Miroku looked on curiously with narrowed eyes until they saw my tear stained face. They knew I never said that word that much unless he deserved it.

"Why do you even care, Inuyasha? Why don't you go back to her for a while? I'll be back before the sun goes down and be your precious jewel detector then. I need to be alone…" I sighed, feeling sadness creep up on me when he didn't even look at me – only sat up and stared in the other direction like he was more than pissed off at my more than justified actions.

I walked away, only taking my bow and arrows, and wandered into the forest around me with a question on my brow. Why was my heart being like this? Why…did I need to find someone I knew would just tell me to go to hell, or possible kill me on sight? I clutched my chest, just above my heart and let a tear fall. I didn't want to be alive anymore – that was why I was going to Sesshomaru. My heart ached for death, and I knew he would give it without question. I couldn't live in a world where Inuyasha didn't at least feel something for me – even if it was just a spec of pity in his heart. But Inuyasha had taken his mate and now.

I stared up at the barren summer sky and sighed as emptiness filled me. I was going to die.

* * *

_Wretched girl._

I continued through the forest, only to find myself in the presence of feelings I could not explain. I was the master of the west, the great demon feared by all, and yet…my heart of all things was screaming for me to go back to her, to comfort her because that incompetent fool had hurt her. Foolish. I had no desire to go to her and be the one she cried on as she yearned for the hanyou I would never call my kin. I had no desire to go back to her ever again.

Who was she anyway, except for the wretch that followed than hanyou around like a lost puppy herself? She was nothing to me. "No," I spoke, cutting the silence the wood graced me with. "She _is_ nothing. Vile girl. I should have killed her when I had the chance." Yet my being shook those thoughts from my head as soon as they had entered. Seeing her dead and lifeless made me flinch in agony. Agony? Was I becoming soft for some Miko-bitch that belonged to Inuyasha? Unlikely. I, Sesshomaru, did not feel agony or emotion for any other creature.

It was a waste of life that touched this Sesshomaru. That was the only explanation.

I removed the girl from my mind and continued on the path, following the scent of graveyard dirt that came from that dead priestess Inuyasha cared so much for. I knew I would never obtain the Tetsusaiga, but I could kill him for the sheer pleasure of it. I found them together only minutes away from the spring the weeping girl sat in, wrapped in one single kimono as he kissed and marked her dead body as his with the mating bite all demons placed on their beloved.

The sight sickened me. I needn't stay here – he wouldn't make an opponent while he rutted his bitch in the forest. The little hanyou didn't even have the decency to bring her into a proper home to mark her. I turned away from them, catching the scent of innocence and wild flowers.

Rin.

She would be waking soon. My Rin, the girl I considered closer to me than anyone in this life. I still hadn't the knowledge of why the little human girl had such an effect on me, but I knew I would protect her with my life and more, should it ever be necessary. I began my run back toward the field I'd left her in and felt my very soul being tugged in the opposite direction. I slowed and the discomfort stopped, but did not vanish. My heart wanted me to go that way: back toward what I knew was that woman. I could smell her strawberry incense scent from here. It made my mouth water and my eyes go red with desire.

No.

I would not allow myself to be drawn into such feelings, such primal instinct to mate, a thing I had not done in several centuries. Arousal filled me as I thought of her standing in that spring, blushing from emotion as my demon drank in every curve. "No," I snarled, yet he laughed in the back of my mind, coming alive for the first time in hundreds of years. I could smell Rin, though, and that was when he died away. She was alright, and I calmed my running pace when I saw her sitting among the flowers in the meadow. "Sesshomaru-sama!" I almost smiled at the happiness emanating from the tiny girl in front of me it was so infectious. I bit back the emotion and let her skip to my side gleefully.

"Rin, have you eaten?" I wondered, passing her as she tugged on my sleeve and handed me a flower.

"Hai! Master Jaken caught some fish in the river! Are you going to go back to Kagome and Inuyasha again?" My eyes widened and I looked at the girl over my shoulder. This little human always seemed to know exactly what I was doing and when she did that with her eyes...Why did she do that with her eyes? I groaned internally at the innocent wonder they held.

"How would you know where I was, Rin?" She blushed and pointed to Jaken, who immediately bowed and apologized for spying on me when he should have been here taking care of Rin. So Jaken had seen her as well. Jealousy and possessiveness flickered in my aura, it had the toad running behind Ah and Un begging for forgiveness. The two of them began arguing over who was right, but my mind was on Inuyasha's other woman. It told me she was filth, but inside my chest I felt an even deeper affection than I'd had for Rin and that was not possible.

She was human and was clearly not the woman that I wanted beside me in my kingdom, for all eternity. Not the woman I wanted to have pups with that would someday rule my empire. I stopped looking for such a woman, for demon women only wanted power and human women repulsed me with their greed. But that Miko…there was something about her that piqued my interest. It was like she was the perfect mix between the two if that were to exist: she was intelligent as she spoke, selflessly loyal as she stood beside my brother and his whore as they danced around her in happiness...but human. I shuddered at the thought of a ningen woman in my arms. That was a day that would never come. I would not allow myself the pleasure the demon inside desired. He fed on misery and death, he did not want a mate but a thing to play with. I had searched for a woman simply for the purpose of an heir, not desire.

My fist connected with the top of Jaken's head, silencing his arguments and the feelings inside of me swiftly. "Silence. We are leaving." _And we are getting away from whatever magic that Miko has put me under. _

I thought of her, almost constantly as Jaken and Rin argued behind me. She looked so broken, sitting there in the water under the moonlight. Her pale skin almost resembled mine and the way her breast rose and fell with the waves of the water – I had to push the image from sight to avoid arousal and suspicion from the demons accompanying me. I'd never thought anything of the girl except hatred for her because of what and who she was. She was a human, but not only that she was the human that belonged to my half breed brother…or so I had presumed. The hanyou didn't even treat her like the woman she was to him, but he ran off to find a corpse he'd fawned over fifty years ago.

_Foolish hanyou_, the beast rose on his hackles, snarling at the very thought.

To leave a woman that would birth him sons, demons to carry on his bloodline for a dead priestess was something I had thought not even Inuyasha would do. Where would the Miko go now, though? Who would keep her safe? She certainly was much more...agreeable than the corpse I had seen on my travels. However, such thoughts were useless trivia. She was none of my concern. And she never would be.

* * *

The forest seemed to dote on the summer's sunshine lovingly as it met it with a cool breeze of pine. I walked through the trees with my hands stretched out to touch their thick bark I passed. The flowers were blooming, the grass was green and lush, and I was terribly out of place here. The thoughts only just hit me in the face and I stumbled, catching myself on a sequoia.

I didn't belong beside Inuyasha, I didn't belong with any human man because of my spiritual powers, and demons were terrifying and couldn't feel love. There were more important things than me going on here, but I couldn't seem to get passed the face that I would never be loved long enough to see that there was something much bigger than myself going on right now. I wanted to be away from Inuyasha anyway at least for a little while. I sat on a cliff, looking over a river and wondered where Sesshomaru had taken off to in such a hurry as always. He was around for so much longer than usual and the way he talked made me wonder if he was curious about me.

_As if._ I snorted, well, dying seemed drastic for just being a jewel detector, bound to live my life in this era as someone who would never find love or happiness. Maybe I'd find a nice man, hell I'd even settle for a best friend in the same predicament as I, to spend the rest of my days with.

_But I'd better get back to Inuyasha…_

But as soon as I stood, I was faced with a giant, hairy, purple, red-eyed demon smirking at the glowing jewel shards hanging from my neck. I stumbled back, catching my leg on a branch as I reached behind me. "Crap," I whimpered as I reached for an arrow. It slipped between my fingers!

The demon chuckled and threw me with its mighty claws, hurling me to the ground ten feet away. "Give me your jewel shards, pathetic human or I'll devour you where you stand!" I shot my fallen arrow as it spoke, blowing the arm that reached for me into oblivion. When the youkai started howling in pain, I righted myself and ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. Maybe I'd find Inuyasha in time and if not, well…I didn't want to think about the 'if not' implications.

No. I had to see Sesshomaru again before that happened, at the very least. I had to know there was nothing between us, and I could move on with my stupid life the way fate intended me to! The demon followed me, screaming that he wanted my head now that I'd ruined his body and I turned with only enough time to shoot an arrow at one of its legs.

"Shit!" I cursed when he jumped out of the way, laughing and taunting me as I picked up my pace again. "How could I miss?" I groaned. I had to be the clumsiest woman on the planet! The demon caught up to me then, ripping my shirt as it pinned me to the ground, crushing my chest when it growled. "Wench! Give me the shards!" I flinched away from its tongue licking down the front of my shirt, swirling around the shards hanging from my necklace and knew this was the end. He would consume the shards and eat me.

_Inuyasha where are you when I actually need you?!_

But as I closed my eyes and hoped to see Nirvana, the pressure on my chest disappeared. A strangled gurgle followed the lightness in me. The demon that was about to rip the shards off and take my throat with them was now begging for its own life. I opened my eyes and saw white hair flowing away from a face in graceful in the light summer wind. Without thought, my savior sliced the demon in two, ignoring the pleas for life it screamed at the master of the west. His eyes were glowing red from the demon within him, but they calmed when he glanced over his shoulder at me to their most honeyed golden hue. I sat up against a tree I'd fallen over, in shock that he'd found me here.

Sesshomaru turned toward me, sheathing his sword. He held out a purple, marked hand and helped me to my wobbling feet. I flushed red when our chests touched and he looked at me – not like he was disgusted – but like he was intrigued. I felt fire across the front of me as our bodies touched and his arm wrapped around my waist tightly. "You are indeed foolish, you pathetic human woman. I told you to go with the monk or the slayer, not by yourself you stupid girl!" He shouted at me, but when I cowered away from his glowing eyes, they calmed.

"You…saved my life," I smiled, feeling weaker by the second. What was this feeling? His eyes widened and he sat me on the ground, still cradling me in his arms. What was happening? Why did I feel so…weak and what was the blackness surrounding my vision? "My stomach," I coughed, feeling liquid coat my lips. "It burns, Sesshomaru." I whimpered as the pain heightened and my hands touched something wet where the fire was coming from. I winced, only to be pulled closer to the demon above me as he whispered profanities under his breath.

"Kagome?" I looked up to see none other than Inuyasha, his eyes wide as he saw me sitting beside Sesshomaru. I smiled at him, reaching up to be in his arms, but a snarl came from the man holding onto me.

"You did this you filthy half-breed, she ran from you when she saw you and that dead wench! You can't even keep a human safe, Inuyasha," Sesshomaru's voice was coated in malice, but he didn't let Inuyasha come any closer to where we sat at the base of a God Tree with burning red eyes. Why was he protecting me?

I touched his pale face, staining his skin with red paint as I looked up at the crescent moon on his forehead. "You're protecting me?" I whispered. I knew there was something wrong now. That demon didn't go away without first hurting me so badly that even Sesshomaru was concerned. Was I dying?

He didn't respond, only picked me up with his arm and began walking toward Kaede's village. Inuyasha was bad-mouthing him from a good pace behind us and I wondered what in the world had possessed the demon dog to care about me, the "foolish Miko" who stayed with his brother even when it wasn't good for me. But I didn't care, this was what I wanted, to see someone who hated me one last time before I left this life. I pressed my face against his chest, startling him with my words. "I'm glad to see you again, at least before I-"

"Do not say such things. I will not allow you to die, Miko. Stop talking, you need to rest."

I looked up at him, his eyes were so guarded, but I saw actual emotion in him – emotion that had never been there before, had it? Had he always felt so warm, so whole? Maybe…maybe there was hope for me and the demon lord to be friends. Or maybe I'd lost so much blood that I was delusional.

* * *

Why did I even care about going in the direction of that human Miko? Rin and Jaken failed to notice we were headed toward the village she resided in with all of those other…_humans_. My mind argued but my demon could not be silenced. I could not help but think of her big blue eyes as they looked up at me, her cheeks as they flushed crimson. I wanted to see her beneath me, begging for me.

No. I stopped, making Jaken shout at Rin behind me to slow down before she ran into my leg. She did it anyway, apologizing with a big toothy grin that needn't forgiveness. "We are going the other way," I reasoned with myself, slicing down the words running through my head that opposed my will.

"Sesshomaru-sama! It's Kagome!" Rin screeched from where now she sat atop Ah-Un and I turned in the opposite direction of the human village. I could not help the way my heart thudded heavier beneath my armor when I smelled a demon chasing after her – a demon who wanted the vile of Sacred Jewel Shards draped across her neck. What was the stupid girl doing? "Sesshomaru-sama, you must save her!" Rin begged. She looked at me with those big eyes and…I could not say no to her. Rin had a power over me that not even I could begin to explain.

"You don't command my Sesshomaru-sama you insolent child!" Jaken was screaming at her until I kicked his toad head and he finally shut up, weeping as I walked away from him, running quickly toward the light of the Miko's Sacred Arrows.

"Your voice is most irritating, Jaken. Stay here, Rin." I commanded with a bark. Once again, I was compelled to save a human girl, not because of Rin, but because of the emotions racing through me. Fear, the most prominent. I ran to the scene, getting the demon's attention with my overpowering aura, and sliced it in two before it could even cower in terror of me.

It was only then that my nose caught a delicate scent. The scent that made my eyes go red with fury. Human blood. He had laid his hands upon her. I looked down at the stunned Miko before me: her eyes praised me with irrevocable trust, a trust I did not deserve. I held my hand out, helping her into the cradle of my arm so that I might carry her to a nearby village. Not even she deserved to die because of a foolish mistake made by a hanyou. "You are indeed foolish, you pathetic human woman. I told you to go with the monk or the slayer, not by yourself you stupid girl!" She just looked at me with a silly smile as she raised a blood-covered hand to my cheek.

"You saved my life…" She managed speak while still smiling up at me. Trust poured from her in waves, like the most beautiful taste of summer raced through the air and caressed me. "My stomach," she coughed up liquid all over her front and my eyes widened. "It burns, Sesshomaru." She winced and I realized the severity of the wound across her abdomen. She'd been pierced by that demon's claws almost all the way through her body. I desired for it to be alive so I could kill it slowly and painfully for what he'd done to her. My eyes calmed when she frowned up at me and ran her warm fingers across my cheek so softly I wouldn't have known they were there if I hadn't seen them.

I pulled her closer when she noticed the injury, concealing it. "Kagome?" I was shaking her shoulders to try and get a reaction, but found it was not my voice that had spoken her name.

My anger was overly obvious when I glared up at him. Inuyasha, the pathetic half-demon that brought this fate to my human. I ignored my mind's slip up for all I wanted to tear his head from his body, but I knew it would upset her when she woke. That was the only thing keeping me from it. "You did this you filthy half-breed, she ran from you when she saw you and that dead wench! You can't even keep a human safe, Inuyasha." I snarled, taking him away from her as he approached with wide, guilty eyes.

He deserved to see just what he'd done, but he wouldn't come a step closer. I couldn't say why, but my insides sang for this insignificant priestess, and I hated that they did. What was it to me if she bled to death on this grass, beside the God Tree she so protected in this village?

_You did this because she is the one you want. Claim her, she's yours._ The demon inside of me raged as he saw the creamy skin of her legs, the way her cheeks were flushed with emotion as she watched me defend her…and the trust coming from her was enough to make me smile – were I capable of such an action-

My rational mind, the mind of the youkai that I really was, argued back_. I merely saved her because it would upset Rin if I just walked away and did nothing._

But it had an answer for everything. _Is that so? Then why haven't you let her go? Why won't your arms release her and why do you snarl like a true Daiyoukai protecting its mate when Inuyasha tries to come near?_

For the first time in my existence, I did not know why I was committing these actions against my honor. Why could I not let the priestess from my arms? But one thing was certain in the mess of my own thoughts youkai and rational: I would not allow Inuyasha to come any closer to her. My eyes turned red and I snarled as he approached, making him, the demon slayer, and the monk back away from me with their hands raised. No one was going to touch her. _I'll keep you safe, Miko._ And my demon swore that it would while the more rational part of me shut up and agreed to at least save her life.

The Miko in my arms guided me toward a village weakly where an ancient priestess that could help heal her wounds resided. She curled into me in a way that made the demon inside of me purr with satisfaction. I had to hold back the noise. If she hadn't come closer, pressing her face into my chest, I would have brought her to me and let my heart ache because she was dying. It already took so much to even stand here and pretend I cared not what happened to her. I wanted to fly her away and keep her safe with me – but that was not an option and it would not happen. She belonged to my brother – I could smell him all over her as I ignored the words he shouted at me. She would never disgrace me with her presence beside me.

"I'm glad," I was startled by her voice, it pierced me with warmth and emotion I'd never felt before but I couldn't see what there was to be glad for. "I'm glad…to see you again, at least before I-"

"Do not say such things," I urged, letting the mask fall only for her to see. I had never let anyone see the face lurking below the poison, but her warmth compelled me. "I will not allow you to die, Miko. Stop talking, you need to rest." I was put under a spell by her magic and perhaps when I saved her life she would release me as a sign of her gratitude.

I sat her down on the mat beside the sage woman and she began to work around me, healing and bandaging every surface of the Miko's injured skin. I sat inside of the hut, not allowing anyone but the sage to enter and when she finally finished bandaging her skin, she looked up at me uneasily. At least I could make one human uneasy in this pathetic village. I glared expressionlessly at her and waited for her to speak. If she told me the girl was to die I would take the entire village with me to the pits of the underworld to bring her back.

"She will be alright, but she needs to rest. Ye best go settle things with Inuyasha, he will not soon forgive ye for not letting him enter to see her." She was wise, but I cared not what Inuyasha felt. He could burn in hell for what he'd done to the broken woman beside me. The fault lay with him if her life was forfeit.

Indigence rose in my chest and I could not help the bark in my words. "Why would Inuyasha care about her? She is not his woman, as he has made so clear by choosing that Miko made of dirt and old bones countless times. The only reason the girl was out in the woods was because the hanyou made his choice very clear and she witnessed their mating." I controlled the snarl in my words and stood, leaving before the girl could wake up or the old sage who sat in astonishment could respond.

"Sesshomaru!" I didn't stop as the young half-demon ran after me outside of the village. "What the hell is going on with you? Rescuing Kagome and not letting anyone near her? What the hell do you care if she lives or-"

"Inuyasha," I interrupted. "I saved the Miko because if I had not Rin would be upset. I do not care what happens to her now, for I have done my part. But you should be aware that you've chosen a dead woman instead of flesh – as far as I'm concerned, even humans are higher than the living dead. You're pathetic." I turned away from him, concealing my rage at his choice. That girl – I refused to even think of her name now – would be lost forever in sadness because of him and his ancient love for a dead wench. He was weak.

But as I reached the hills overlooking the poverty stricken village, my soul would not let me leave until I knew she would awaken – alive and healthy. I sat on a hill outside of the village and waited for the sun to set, but my mind was not at ease. Even the wind infuriated me with its frivolity. It carried her warmth and pierced my soul so deeply I wanted to slay it. Why did I, the most powerful youkai of all, feel this way? The pang of jealousy after seeing Inuyasha enter the hut to be with her, the tightness in my middle as I thought of her in my arm, smiling up at me with…faith in her eyes. I never wanted to let her go, but I would never hold her again. I wanted to stay beside her forever, but I would leave when she woke.

My eyes widened and I knew that there was no way that this had happened to a being as powerful as I, the great daiyoukai of the western lands. I refused to accept her friendship. I heard Rin's laughter and stood before her and Jaken could see me in my devastated state of mind.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she sang as she hugged my leg and let go just as quickly. "Will Lady Kagome be okay?" My eyes widened at the honorific title she gave the Miko, but I let it go just as quickly. She was twice the priestess that the dead woman was and it would only be right to call her Lady Kagome.

But I stared down at the child, ice on my expression. "I do not know of her status. She's under the care of the village priestess now. She will be fine." I couldn't tell if I was still speaking to Rin or to myself. Did I need reassurance that she would live through this night?

She shuffled behind me and when my eyes met hers she made her desires known. Rin never asked me for anything. "Can we stay here until she wakes up Sesshomaru-sama?"

I needn't think on it. This was my excuse to stay and make sure that whelp of a hanyou did not hurt her again. "If that is what you wish, Rin. We shall stay until the Miko awakens," I spoke with conviction and sat down atop the hill, closing my eyes while I waited to see those blue orbs of ocean water open once more, bringing the entire waking world to me with them.

**A/N: Anyone else notice I totally edited it? :P Well I did. **

**Review.**

**Panda.**


	3. A Warm Farewell

**A/N: So I've combined two more chapters again because they feel so right when you put them together. :) **

**Chapter Three**

**A Warm Farewell**

Inuyasha ran into the hut, still confused because Sesshomaru, the unfeeling demon of the west, had saved his Kagome. All because, he blushed as he thought of the reason he hadn't been there for her. This all had happened because he wasn't there to save her like he should have been. He raced through the village, leaving the pensive demon to sit on the outskirts. He had to get to Kagome – he had to know she would be safe.

"Kaede," he barked, slipping into the small hut just as the old sage covered Kagome's body with a blanket. "Is Kagome gonna be okay?" He wondered, his tone dropping to a serious one as he saw the girl, wrapped up and sweating as she moaned in agony.

Kagome's rosy cheeks had paled to pasty white; her eyes sagged with purple bags marking them to show the gravity of the situation, but the worst of all was how small she looked. She was so small on the mat that she barely filled it out, even now that her skin had paled and thinned. He felt like crying and killing at the same time.

This is my fault. I should have never let her go on her own! What the hell was I thinking? As if he actually needed to tell himself just what he was thinking of when he let Kagome go off by herself. He shut his eyes and saw Kikyo lying beneath him, smiling as she pressed her cold lips to his, her cold ruby-red lips that brought him so much love and so much sorrow.

_You left Kagome alone to see Kikyo, remember?_ His demon taunted him, making his face flush with shame. If he hadn't been out with her that night Kagome wouldn't be like this.

"Well," Kaede interrupted his masochistic thoughts with a pause and moved a little closer to him like she was afraid someone would overhear. "I told that Sesshomaru fellow that she would be alright but Inuyasha," she shook her head at the small girl, "she is dying." He saw tears in her eyes, but he couldn't believe it. He WOULDN'T believe it.

"DYING?" He shouted, jumping to Kagome's side to look at her with worried eyes. "No, she can't, Kaede, she can't die! Kagome will not die, I won't let her!" His face, which usually held a cocky uncaring nature had become soft and forlorn. He took her hand and pressed it to his cheek, surprised by how cold she was.

"Kagome, Kagome, dammit answer me, stupid! Wake up, please just open your eyes," he begged, feeling warm tears slide down his cheeks as he shook her to no avail. His hands traced her sunken in cheeks, his heart breaking as she took in shallow breaths. He could hear her heart beat fading - fast. Kagome was always so warm, so kind. He felt more tears escape him when she winced, her big eyes shutting even tighter. He lied her back down on the mat and kissed her forehead before placing his head gently on hers, not budging an inch.

"Kagome," Kaede began sadly, only to be interrupted by an unnatural movement of wind behind her. Sesshomaru stood at the door, his eyes cold and uncaring as ever, and stared down the sage. Inuyasha snarled and stepped in front of Kagome protectively. Sesshomaru glared at him with red eyes before turning to the Miko in front of him.

He looked at her with those smothering eyes, filled with ice, but he felt his insides turn to fire because he, Lord Sesshomaru, had been lied to. "You told this Sesshomaru she was to live. I suspected the lie," he snarled at the old woman who simply shrugged her shoulders and went back to the warm water with the bloody rag she'd taken from Kagome's stomach.

Kaede turned back to the two brothers, Inuyasha quieter than she'd ever seen as he held Kagome close to him without hurting her. Sesshomaru stood there, brooding and infuriated, his aura blackened with rage. "I told ye she was going to live because I knew that ye would slay me where I stood if I did not. Kagome is human, Sesshomaru-sama, she does not heal as fast as ye or Inuyasha-"

"But she is a Miko. She has the spiritual power of healing." He reasoned with her, knowing his knowledge on priestesses was not wrong. He would not see her die tonight simply because the old woman was incompetent to the ways of healing that certain Miko's like Kagome possessed.

"Aye, she does," Kaede responded sadly, "but the wound is too grave. It has drained all of her power just to stay alive this long. She will not make it through the night without a miracle from the Kami's, I'm certain." She watched his face go from ice to thoughtful then to curious as he walked over to where Inuyasha stood snarling in front of the girl. The half-demon looked so unbecoming, like a puppy baring its teeth to its master.

He grabbed the pup by the skin of his neck, smirking to himself as Inuyasha complained and swiped at him. He knew there was a way to save the girl, but Inuyasha could not be here to witness it. "Miko," he spoke as he threw Inuyasha thirty feet away into a building like he was simply swatting away a pesky mosquito. "Put up a barrier. There is something I would like to try but that worthless hanyou won't let me get near enough to do it."

"And what exactly are ye planning to do?" She wondered, glancing at him with untrusting eyes.

He glared back, even colder than she had. "I plan to save her life, unless you wish for her to die."

Kaede nodded then, not arguing with whatever he wanted to do and sat crisscross on the floor as Inuyasha snarled and growled, trying to break her spiritual barrier around the hut. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Sesshomaru take Kagome into his arms.

She watched with wide orbs of confusion as his golden eyes had gone from cold and hard to caring and scared. He scooped her up into the arm that was left of his body and ran a hand from her neck to the spot between her breasts. She was about to complain until she saw determination on his face. His hand slid below her Kimono as Kaede watched, ever mindful of the half-demon attacking the barrier with his Tetsusaiga, and his lips moved closer to her flesh with purpose.

* * *

KPOV, First Person.

"Where am I?" I wondered, wincing as I opened my eyes. It was dark, darker than it had ever been in the cheerful village – almost always the moon and stars lit the way into the forests surrounding us, but not this night. The warm summer wind blew through my hair, sending shivers of fright down my spine and it was only then that I realized I couldn't sense anything. There was nothing around me in the small village, not human or demon. I was lying here in Kaede's hut like I did every time we came back toward the well, but this time there was a darkness about the place. The old hut seemed different, aged, pained. I shook my head and grabbed my clothes, wincing in pain as I pulled them over my body.

"Sango, Miroku?" I called out, standing up with the aide of my black bow. I could feel the dull throb from the wound I had, but I chose to ignore it. Where was everyone? I couldn't see Sango's Hiraikotsu in the fading sun or even Miroku's staff trailing behind him as he followed her.

"Shippo, my love?" I wondered, smiling as I called out to my Kitsune adopted child. When no response came from the lecherous monk, my big sister, or my little cub, I frowned and actually looked at the worn down village. I scowled at the buildings, touching the ancient wood of the huts – I could feel its pain and staggered away from it in wonder.

The walls of the buildings were tainted with age, the moon was low in the sky, casting shadows across the trees and streams leading into the rice fields, but there were no longer any humans living in this village. How long was I asleep? Did they give up and say I'd died? My heart broke at the thought. Why would they leave me there to rot? I stumbled, my bow digging into the ground with each half-step I took until I was at the very edge of the village – closer to the well that might still take me back to my time. But I paced the grass instead, stumbling and falling every few minutes as I nursed the open wounds across my middle.

_I remember how this happened_, I thought to myself as I touched the wet fabric below the Kimono. Sesshomaru…he came out of nowhere and slayed the demon that was after the jewel. I can understand him leaving immediately…but Inuyasha? It seemed soon as I spoke the name I could sense a dark aura behind me, sulking in the shadows because it was something tainted by time and hatred.

"Go home, girl." My eyes widened in shock, I knew that voice, I'd know it anywhere.

"Kikyo?" I asked, whipping around to see the woman Inuyasha's heart belonged to there with a long bow and a scowl on her face. She was always so beautiful, even when she was scowling, and when I smiled at her in comradely, the woman glared even deeper. _What's with her_? I wondered, feeling hurt that she didn't even say hi.

Kikyo smirked and walked over to where I stood in the moonlight, and forcefully pushed my shoulder until there was a deep confusion in my blue eyes. "You don't belong here, go home. Go home to your time." She whispered in my ear, circling my body faster than my eyes could keep up with. What was happening? How was Kikyo's voice everywhere and nowhere at the same time? I feel to her knees, exhausted as I watched her, and my hands covered my ears. I begged for the Spector to stop, but she continued, dragging me further into the forest.

"Go home."

"You don't belong."

"He doesn't want you here anymore!"

He? Inuyasha? "Where is Inuyasha?" I thundered up at her, real anger filling these eyes but the priestess simply laughed off my fury.

It wasn't until that moment that I knew I had been lured into the forest by Kikyo jabbing me in the chest with her boney fingers, cackling into the night when I began to cry.

_Where are you Inuyasha? _

_What has she done_?

I ran, as fast as I could with the wound, and finally reached the well, panting when I fell against it, and felt warm blood pouring out of my stomach. Kikyo had destroyed the village just to get to me! She wanted to kill me, in this very moment, and had every chance in the world to. I was too weak to even put up a barrier to keep her out.

"Inuyasha never loved you," Kikyo growled as she held me over the well. "He's mine, foolish copy!" Her voice was shrewd, uncontrolled and in some way scared as I glared into her eyes. My eyes tightened in anticipation when Kikyo's clay fingers let go of the shirt, and I started falling. I fell head first into the well, only Kikyo's laughter to guide me away from the light at the top of it, but nothing came from me falling. No blue light, no mom there to hold out her hand as I called for her. Not even Inuyasha with his smile…

I was lost in the darkness…and there wasn't anyone here to save me.

"Go home, Kagome." He snorted, bringing color into the dark and walked away from me, leaving me alone again.

He wanted me to go? I fought tears as I ran after him. "No, Inuyasha! Don't go!" My voice dragged on for what sounded like forever. My body slowed and suddenly, I was no longer in the land of dreams, but looking up at two beautiful golden eyes. I could hear a fire cracking behind me, filling my dead-cold body with warmth.

A hand steadied me as I tried to wiggle free from the cold grasp around. "Do not move, Miko. I've healed you to the best of my ability and now I leave the rest up to you. You have that power, don't you?" The deep voice came from the source of the arm around me and I looked up into cold eyes worriedly.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" I groaned, waking for what felt like the first time in months only to find I was bandaged up and couldn't even breathe without feeling pain. That meant it had all been a dream, but I could still feel tears in my eyes. _What happened?_ I grimaced, feeling a dull throb in my stomach. I was back in the village, in Lady Kaede's hut beside the fire. My body was so cold, so frigid as I coughed and felt tremors of agony ripple through me. How did I even get back here? The last thing I remembered was…

Sesshomaru! My eyes opened wide and I gasped as I remembered what happened in the forest. That demon tried to kill me, and would have succeeded if it wasn't for...him coming to save me. Sesshomaru saved me from the purple demon…but why? Could it be that he…? I blushed, feeling stupid for even thinking that it was because he felt something about anything, and shut my eyes tightly before I noticed a purple glow emanating from underneath my skin. Was I healing myself? Was that what this pain was?

"You, you saved me?" I asked, looking up at his cold expression only to realize, I was without a kimono across my chest.

Even though Sesshomaru was holding me, I moved at lightning speed to cover my body by smashing into his and hiding behind the mokomoko he held as a symbol of his status. Not the best idea, I'd admit. I cringed and he gave an irritated noise in the back of his throat accompanied with a roll of his eyes. "Do not flatter yourself, woman. I merely needed to take it off of you to heal the wound." He handed the white Kimono back and I blushed as he helped me slip it on.

My eyes caught a glimpse of my stomach and I noticed immediately that there was no wound, only a pink scar that was already healing itself. "W-what?" I wondered, glancing up at the powerful daiyoukai in amazement. He glanced up and that was when I heard all the commotion around me.

Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha, and even Shippo were attacking a barrier created by the ancient priestess sitting in front of the door. "Why are they attacking the hut?" I tried to keep myself from yelling but Sesshomaru pressed my stomach so gently I could only feel his heated touch across my skin like a warning that if I should move he would cause me even more pain.

"I told you once before, Miko, do not move. I do not repeat myself." Instead of shooting him a stubborn comment, I nodded and lied back down, allowing him to cover me with the clothing again. If he was concerned it had to be bad. "I have but healed the outside so you will not bleed to death. The inside will heal if you wish it to, but you are in no condition to move about as you please."

Kaede sighed again, finally answering my question as the man fell silent, charming me with his tormented eyes. "They all got very worked up when Sesshomaru-sama came in started unclothing you, even more so when he treated your wound." I frowned at her small laugh and the flash of embarrassment in his eyes. Why would they be upset about that if he helped me? And when the hell was Sesshomaru ever embarrassed?

"Why would that make them do this?" I asked, looking at my now calming friends. At least Miroku had calmed Sango by circling her in his arms and Shippo had just tired himself out.

Inuyasha yelled the answer then, still slashing away at the barrier uselessly. "Because he started licking you with that disgusting demon tongue of his! Get out here Sesshomaru, no one touches Kagome like that and lives!" My eyes widened and I looked over at the demon man in the shadows, if I wasn't mistaken he looked like he was blushing, but then again, I was injured. He licked my wounds clean? Well he is a dog, after all. I almost laughed at the thought of Sesshomaru as a puppy and wondered what kinds of herbs Kaede had fed me.

Kaede let the barrier drop upon hearing my one word that silenced Inuyasha. "Sit." I commanded, hearing a thud outside as I stared over at Sesshomaru again and ignored the hanyou outside. "You did that just to save me?"

He rolled his eyes again, glaring frigidly. "As I've said before, do not flatter yourself, woman. I came to your aide because Rin overheard the sage say that you were to die. It greatly upset her so I saved you because she would never forgive me if I hadn't." My heart fell at his cold words, but they made sense. Why would a man that had tried to kill me a dozen times over want to save me unless it was for the little girl he cared for?

"Anyway," I coughed, getting his attention for a moment. "Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." He snorted one small 'humph' and walked out of the hut, stepping on Inuyasha's head to do so. I couldn't help but smile at his show of brotherly affection and watch in awe as he put distance between himself and all the stunned human spectators.

"Sesshomaru," I whispered, knowing it was only for my ears because no one reacted to it. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to protect me through the night but I knew that would never happen. Especially now that Inuyasha was standing above me, a quizzical quirk in his brow.

"Are you gonna be okay now, Kagome?" He wondered, letting his hatred for his brother go when I nodded. I already felt better and I knew it was because of the purple light healing me, but also because he had saved me. I was still in awe of the whole thing, even as Inuyasha took me into his arms and swore to never let me out of his sight again. I rolled my eyes. What a liar.

From the feeling blossoming in my chest, I knew he was lying: I knew if I was to ever be truly happy, I would definitely have to get out of Inuyasha's sight more often. As I lied here, covered by a red kimono and warm arms, I could almost hear the demon lord whispering in my ear. "Farewell, Miko." I smirked at the last bit and knew I had to be imagining things – dream Sesshomaru was always sweet, never insulting like that real one was. I shut my eyes and fell into slumber, healing my internal wounds with each flicker of a kiss from his lips to my cold, dreamlike skin.

* * *

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin tugged on my sleeve, trying to get my attention away from the hut I stared intently at. She was already in his arms, I could smell him all over her already. My demon raged inside of my chest.

I looked down at the wide-eyed child. "What is it, Rin?"

"Are we to stay? Or should I prepare Ah-Un to leave tonight?" Her voice was so innocent, so much like...

"We shall stay," I responded, my eyes glowing red as the demon inside of me took over. He was enraged, having to watch the scene unfold the way it had, and not in her naked below me, but I would keep him in check. There was no way that I was going to let a mere human enter my heart as much or even more as Rin had. _Kagome,_ the rational, pensive part of my soul called to her - saying her name instead of calling her by what she was to me, a simple Miko. _What are you doing to me_? _How do you, a pitiful Miko, have such power over my very soul_? I answered the raging war of logic and something deeper inside of me, feeling the smooth wind that smelled so much like her summer sunshine and rain wash over me. We would stay. I sat on the hilltop away from the lights of the village in mourning over the reincarnated Miko, awaiting for her smile that filled me so completely to come to life with the light of the day.

* * *

What was…? What was with all the damned shuffling?

My eyes formed slits as I woke to the sound of nails against wood and widened even more when I heard voices among the noise. I saw the crescent moon hanging in the same spot of the sky it had been when Sesshomaru left. It hasn't even been an hour yet…where is he? "Inuyasha, what has kept you?" My heart throbbed in my breast and I wanted to look away from what I saw standing in the doorway of Kaede's hut.

She was already coming to find him here, with me. I understood the pain of not knowing where he was, though. I understood her desire to be with him because we shared it. It only made me wonder just how often he'd been sneaking away from camp to see his beloved. I could see in her dark eyes that she missed him already. She still loved him…deeply. And I didn't even have a hope of breaking that apart. I didn't want to.

"Kagome was injured," he whispered and I turned my head, very ninja like if I did say so myself, and found them staring into each other's eyes. "I had to stay to make sure she would survive the night…" Even I could hear the malice in his voice and I blushed because it was me keeping him from her. How selfish was that?

She smiled and fell against his chest, curling her fingers around his hand. "I understand that, but what is troubling you so much?" I glared at the dead woman. So she can read him just as well as I can. I should have expected as much, I guess. I clutched the blanket tighter when the familiar feeling of hurt ravaged the pit of my stomach.

"My god damn brother, that's what," he snarled, grabbing her closer when her eyes got wider at the mention of the daiyoukai. Not to mention the turn of my stomach at the mention of my demonic savior. "The bastard saves her life with his disgusting demonic powers and then just leaves, calling her a stupid girl. Why the fuck did he even bother?" My eyes opened all the way at his words.

He…wanted me gone, dead? Tears stung at my eyes, tears I knew he wouldn't notice while he was wrapped up in his Kikyo. My head was plunged under the blanket in a desperate attempt to soothe my tears. The light coming from below my skin had already gone away and I noticed that the pain was barely there – did that mean I was healed? Good. Cause I was going home. Inuyasha didn't want me here anymore – they were silently talking about it to themselves now. Even Kikyo wished for my departure so her soul would return and she could be with him like before…

As I felt my own misery reaching an all-time high, he jumped off, taking her lips in his and her arms wrapped around his neck. I rolled my eyes at the sick feeling in my stomach, ignoring the dull throb of pain from my injuries. I stumbled to my feet, using my bow for support, and found myself drenched in the moonlight that hung over the village this night.

I looked up to the crescent moon and smiled as it bathed me in its warmth. It was so much like _him_. I looked around, stumbling as I clutched at my wound, and found I was alone in the darkness. A flash of red caught my eye and I turned my head just in time to see Inuyasha bombard the forest. Hmm…I wonder just how good forest sex was because they could have easily slid into an abandoned hut. I blushed, touching my hot face as I thought of them together.

Gross!

I shook away my thoughts – my sole goal was getting to the well so I could fall in there and call out to grandpa. He'd certainly hear me at this time of night.

Then I found myself remembering the man that had saved me and exactly how he'd done it. I could still feel warmth from where his lips grazed my skin, healing me with his demonic powers. I wondered if it made him feel weaker, that one act of healing he bestowed upon me because his young ward begged him to. I'd certainly need to give Rin something fantastic to compensate for saving my life. A pink yukata from my time, the one hanging in my closet from my childhood holidays spent with my father. She'd enjoy it.

I was already feeling better, with each step it seemed, and my internal wounds felt healed – well I assumed they were because the blue light coming from my stomach had faded away. Deep inside, I knew, I hadn't wanted to die when I saw Sesshomaru yesterday. I wanted to see those honey-gold eyes and feel his warm fingers on my skin, even if it meant they were taking my life. I wanted to picture the Sesshomaru I dreamt of when I felt lonely at night – even if it was while the real one took my life. I gasped and fell to one knee, feeling blood trickle down my front lazily just after I stumbled over a rock in the dark.

I really was blind out here! Great, I'd have to go back to Kaede…and that meant seeing Inuyasha.

"Miko," I froze at the cold voice in my ear. "Did I not tell you that you weren't to move from the spot I left you in?" His voice, icy as always, seemed to be filled with anger. It was more of a snarl than a question. I twitched when his hand wrapped around my waist and he pulled me to my feet, relieving my legs of the weight of my body.

"Let me go!" I yelped, feeling his body move against mine in the most…delicious way as he headed back toward the hut I dreaded being in. I could feel my hips rubbing against his leg, sending shocks through me but if he felt anything he didn't show it. I blushed and realized this was so wrong! I just wanted to go home!

He snorted, it was a sound of derision and I glared into those golden orbs stubbornly, feeling the warmth from our bodies touch leave. "I wanna go home, Sesshomaru-sama! I don't wanna see him come back from making love to her ever again!" I felt tears welling up in my eyes and he glanced down at me curiously.

"Is this village not your home, Miko?"

It was my turn to pull a snort on him. "No. Just drop me down the bone eater's well. My home is beyond the well, five hundred years from now. You really think I wear this outfit just to tempt all the demons out there?" I swear I saw him smirk down at me. He turned his cold gaze on me again, sighing tiredly.

"Miko, I will not drop you down a well in the middle of the night while you are injured. Wait a few more days, though, and I'm sure I will be tempted to." I caught the silent way he begged me to just stop talking. He wanted to take me where he knew I'd be safe…but why? There was no way Rin could have smelled my blood from all the way out here in the forest.

I didn't ask any more questions because whenever I'd open my mouth to say something he'd give me the iciest glare that just dared me to interrupt his precious silence. Fine, Geez, you think he'd learn how to act living with a little girl most of the time! When we got back to the village, I expected him to just lie me down and be on his way, but he sat down beside me and seemed to be waiting for me to do something.

"What?" I wondered, looking at him curiously – suspiciously. His eyes roamed my body, searching for the point where I'd ripped the scars from the fight earlier open.

His eyes narrowed as he sensed the weak spot over my stomach. "You are bleeding, the smell is irritating me. Take off that thing you have on over your stomach." My eyes widened and I could feel a drip of sweat fall across my cheek. I looked back over at his face to make sure he was serious and found the same icy glare set in place as always.

"What now?" I blushed, scooting away from him to the best of my ability and he shut his golden eyes tiredly.

He pinched the bridge of his nose then, sighing before he gave me a stony gaze. "I simply mean I need access to heal the wound on your stomach, Miko. Why must everything I say to you be an invitation to mate?"

Of course he did. I felt stupid for thinking anything more was on his mind, but the way he said it like there was no possible way anything on the planet would ever want to touch me, made me glare right back at him. "Because every time you talk to me you're asking me to take my clothes off!" His eyes narrowed even more, daring me to continue on defying him and I gave in – he had to be the most stubborn person I'd ever met and there was no sense arguing with him. "Right," I sighed, lying back down before lifting the thin fabric off of my midsection.

He placed a cool hand on my waist, earning a very prominent blush from me, and bent his face down to my skin. I shuddered as his cool breath ghosted across me, making my nipples harden in anticipation, and fought back a moan at the sensations. His long hair draped around my hips, sending shivers of…_lust_ through me. "Oh…" I felt something wet and cold touch my skin, circling the spot where the pain was coming from, and felt Sesshomaru's lips form a smirk when I gave into the sigh welling up in my chest.

I fought the urge to run my hands through his locks. I was not going to let that happen. I balled my hands up in fists to fight the temptation. The pain slowly diminished with each small lap of his tongue until I could only feel his lips pressed so softly above the opened scar. The feeling inside of me was so warm I almost didn't feel the cold night around us. His lips lingered a few moments after the pain had gone and I looked up to see the demon lord staring down at me emotionlessly, but past the façade I saw confusion in those golden orbs.

I fell back against the mat now, the rigid way my body flexed suddenly gone, and sighed at the demon lord. "Thank you," I whispered and while I was absent of pain I could feel sleep creeping up on me. "This is twice now," I yawned, getting his attention with my remark.

And of course, he understood exactly what I meant. "Hn. It is three times now that you have saved my Rin, Miko. I am yet in your debt." I rolled my eyes at his logic, thinking there wasn't really a scale to owe or not owe someone when it came to life.

I could understand Inuyasha owning me hundreds of dollars for Ramen, but not Sesshomaru for saving Rin's life. I'd saved her from a demon in the forest when we were traveling in the direction of Naraku; I saved her from a disease that would have claimed her life if she didn't get the antibiotics from my time, and the very last time I snatched her away from a careless attack Inuyasha had sent for Sesshomaru. But the strange part was I knew I would do it all over again if she needed me to.

I looked up at him and saw the mask crack with surprise when he saw my gentle smile. "I'd do it a thousand times over. There's nothing to thank, Sesshomaru-sama, you are not indebted to me. You may leave." Maybe talking like he did would convince him but as the words left my mouth, the mask slipped back on and he turned his back to me, facing the door of the hut. Great, now I'd pissed off Sesshomaru. Was there any good to come from my actions?

With narrowed eyes he looked over at his shoulder to me. "Sleep, Miko." And as if he could hear the fear racing through my heart, because I knew the morning would bring Inuyasha and my heartache back, his voice became softer. I almost didn't hear him as he covered me with the blanket and went back to watching the outside world. My eyes slid shut when I realized he was protecting me…from myself. He thought I'd follow his hanyou brother until my own heart ended up broken and scorned and when the morning came I hoped he wouldn't let Inuyasha anywhere near me. At least until I was through the well and had time to think.

I reached to my side, taking his warm hand in mine and felt his claws twitch at my touch, but he did not push me away. I could almost hear his voice, I swore I did – but I was probably imagining it in my sleep deprived stupor. I smiled, taking them with me into my dreams where I knew I would be safe. "I shall be here when you wake, Kagome."

**A/N: Another meshed together chapter, because seriously both of them were only like 3000 words long. Anyway, hope you like the edited version like I do. :)**


	4. Through The Well

**A/N: Introducing POV's this chapter to avoid confusion :)**

**Chapter Six**

**Through The Well**

**(SPOV)**

Oh…_fuck. _She lifted her shirt and beside the small wound that wouldn't really do any damage and I had to keep from kissing up her toned stomach as she took in nervous breaths. I wanted to lick around her naval, kiss up her ribs until goose bumps spread across her breasts and she begged me to…

_**No**_. _Think of the girl._ _She is in pain and she needs someone to make it go away._

My demon snarled at my rational side that was only chivalrous, while the demon only wanted to take her as his mate right here as she blushed up at me. I, certainly, wasn't going to let that happen anytime soon. My mate would be demon, more beautiful than any human woman, and perfect like I was. I was only doing this because if I didn't Rin would never let me hear the end of it and the little girl that followed me was too precious to be lost. I sighed, letting my breath spread across her lavender-fragrant skin, and fought my eyes from rolling in the back of my head at the taste of her. She tasted like strawberries and watermelon, wrapped in vanilla and tempting mint that made my manhood rise and beg for her.

Biting back moans at the taste of her sweetened blood, I let my cool mouth heal instead of poison and she gasped aloud at the feeling. My eyes widened as her heart beat quickened and a shudder rushed across her skin. Healing was something my mother taught me how to do in my infancy – I was quite instable as a child and always seemed to be falling over on something, so when she was tired of healing me almost hourly, I relied on my own skill. Five hundred years of education had never prepared me for what I was doing now, though. Healing a_ human_ girl, exciting a _human_ girl, making a_ human_ girl blush when I looked down at her.

Her hands balled into fists after a very low moan came from her throat and I snarled at the scent of her arousal thick in the air. She…must have not felt someone like this before, even though I was trying my best not to cause this, was what I was telling myself until she bucked her hips unconsciously.

I smirked against her skin. No, that wasn't it at all. She _wanted_ me.

I shut my eyes and pressed my lips to the closed wound, remembering the first time I took her in my arms – actually worried that she was going to die. She was unconscious, yes, but when my tongue spread across her skin her body came alive and she ran her hands through my hair and pulled me closer, moaning. It was my name on her lips that sent the half-breed into such a rage, swinging around his sword as he watched the priestess he traveled with squirm and desire me. _Stupid Miko, how the fuck did she do these things to me_?

I'd never even thought about claiming anything until that night.

I pulled away, looked down at her blushing face, and had to turn toward the wind before the discomfort in my Hakama grew too noticeable. The musky, heated scent of her was making my mouth water. Damned woman. Every time I saw that blush directed towards me, especially when my hands rested on her flesh, I couldn't help the sensation of wanting her and I despised her for it. She made me, the killing perfection of the west, weak.

She mumbled pleasantries, talked of the only thing in my life I cared for, falling asleep as the conversation turned to one of goodbye. She wanted me to leave, but there was no way I was going to expose her to Inuyasha's stupidity any longer. I sat beside the door, looking back at her, before I pulled the cover over her. "I shall be here when you wake," I fought the monster that wanted to say her name like a caress of her skin…and lost. "Kagome." And I knew my stubborn nature would not let me leave now.

It was only a few hours later, as the sun began to touch the earth, that I could smell Inuyasha and…his 'woman's' scent. Disgusting, rutting a corpse. I sat my ground, flicking Tokijin away from my yellow sash as the hanyou appeared. "What the hell are you doing here, Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha barked, making my insides harden in resolve.

"I am standing beside a Miko who needed protection when you were off fucking the clay woman. She was traveling through the woods when I found her and she, curiously, asked me to drop her down a well so she could be away from you. She was injured, I am here because of that only. Perhaps when she recovers I will drop her down the well, I pity anyone who has to be in your company for as long as she has been." I snarled at the pup, fighting the way my eyes flashed red at his uncaring composure for the human he claimed to love at one time. Loyalty in this relationship was clearly one-sided.

He huffed at me, taking out his sword. "I protect Kagome, I think you're lying just cause you wanna take her away cause you know I'd give up Tessaiga for her!" I saw his eyes flash with the lie and I hoped the dead Miko heard his words.

What a childish thing to say, though. "It would not be for Tessaiga that I would take her, but to watch the look on your face as she screams my name instead of yours," I growled, letting my demon have his own say.

"Bastard!" He snarled, foolishly waving his sword around until an attack threatened to take the hut and the Miko who rested inside of it.

Faster than light, I grabbed the woman into my arms and was sky borne before the windscar could even think about touching her. I had her in my only arm, a very high disadvantage when Inuyasha had both of his arms. I moved through the trees, faster than Inuyasha could see, and waited for him beside the well I found the girl standing by.

"Kagome," I nudged her cheek with my nose, summoning her awake as she stood in the circle of my arm. I watched as her eyes fluttered open; gaze down at Tokijin curiously, before looking back into my eyes with confusion. "Kagome, I will ask this of you once, get behind me and don't get in my way." She nodded, completely trusting me for once without any questions – my heart didn't even have time to soar for her because the hanyou had entered the clearing.

"Kagome, get away from that bastard!"

She shook her head, looking at me as I glanced over my shoulder at her. "He is unstable, Miko. He does not like the idea of me healing you a second time."

The woman rolled her eyes at the hanyou who snarled from the edge of the trees. "Inuyasha, I saw you and Kikyo and decided I needed to talk a walk. I came out here, tripped over a rock, and Sesshomaru took my back to Kaede."

She tried to explain, but he wouldn't have any of it. He snarled, directing his attack toward her, screaming out things I knew would hurt the girl's feelings. "Traitor! Why would you leave me for my brother, the heartless, dickless fuckhead! You think he's better than me, lemme tell ya Kagome, he'll rip your throat out just for the fun of seeing you bleed!" His eyes were turning red with hatred and he swung madly, trying anything he could to get past me to kill the woman he claimed betrayed him.

"You think I would kill her in cold blood? Inuyasha, are you so blind to see that your actions with the dead priestess have already left her half dead? What am I of use for if you're killing her yourself?" I snarled, finally letting my demon take his attack on the man who was hurting the woman he wanted to mate.

He smirked, looking behind me to see the frightened girl shouting for us to stop hurting each other. He saw the flash of possession in my eyes and knew exactly what nerve to hit to make m'e lose control. "Oh so that's why you've stuck around for so long."

"Don't assume things simply because that's all that's on your mind, hanyou." I growled, showing him part of my true form as anger flooded through me.

He got close to my face as our blade collided, cockily tilting his head toward the Miko. "I'd bet you wouldn't even _know_ how to please her, Sesshomaru."

It was my pride he was insulting, now. I stepped in front of the girl as he attacked her, throwing a ball of energy his way that collided with the light of Tessaiga, when I felt something tug on my kimono, pulling me backwards with great force. When I turned, I saw in my own horror that Kagome was falling into the well behind us. A part of the blast had knocked her backwards and unthinkingly, I reached for her; only find myself falling toward her in the flash of stars and blue light. I brought her body close to mine, tucking her head under my neck to protect her from what I knew had to be death.

* * *

**(KPOV)**

"Oh Kami," I moaned as the brother's iron clashed and cried into the early morning. "I belong to neither of you, what the fuck is going on?" I shouted, only to be ignored by both of them. I wake up, in Sesshomaru's arms, to find Inuyasha attacking both of us. What the hell happened while I was sleeping, except a very good dream about…

Great, this was just lovely. They were fighting over Kami knows what this time. I was on Sesshomaru's side, as all of Inuyasha's attacks seemed to be directed toward me for what he thought was betrayal on my part. With Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru of all things! I blushed, remembering the way his hands pressed against me, the way his lips lingered…I shook my head, giving up on figuring out what the hell Sesshomaru was doing with me anyway. Anything he did though, was not a betrayal!

I watched the fight, wincing when Inuyasha would fall back and even when Sesshomaru was insulted. My eyes widened when I saw a leg of the windscar coming my way, and the blast pushed me closer to the well. Instinctively, I reached for the closest thing to me. That thing just happened to be Sesshomaru-sama's kimono sleeve.

_Crap! He'll never make it through the well!_ I could hear Inuyasha's voice screaming about how much of a coward he was for taking aide from a woman, but my breath to shout back was taken away as Sesshomaru tucked me into his arms and put his head on top of mine. _He's trying to protect me?_ He was going to feel really stupid when we landed on the ground of the well.

My eyes, which had been shut closed in anticipation, opened wide when I felt like we were floating. The well was going to let him through! _Oh crap_…_why me_? Why my family? Surely, Sesshomaru would kill them all. My world was doomed.

I pressed my face against his warm skin and shuddered at the contact, relishing in what would probably be the last thing I'd ever smell before he murdered me. I froze when I felt him nuzzle me back, taking in my scent, too. He smelled like fresh rain and wildflowers, maybe even honey – it was mouthwatering.

We landed gently on the dirt floor of my side of the well and he paused for a second, holding me closer, until he smelled the humans in my world. "Where are we, Miko?" He demanded, letting go of me as quickly has he'd grabbed me close, and held his sword in front of us. He was reacting the same way Inuyasha had to the sound of cars on the street, the sound of the buses stopping and going.

I touched his arm to get his attention and moved in front of him. "We are the bottom of the well," I assured him, lowering his hand with my small fingers. "In my time."

His eyes narrowed and he placed Tokijin in his sash again. "And exactly when is your time, woman?"

Oh so I was woman now? Not even graced the title of Miko, even after he showed his weakness for me in the light of the well with all that nuzzling. I narrowed my own eyes at him. "My name is Kagome, Ka-GO-me. It's not woman, Miko, priestess, Inuyasha's wench or girl. I call you by your title, Sesshomaru-sama, call me by mine! And my time is five-hundred years before yours!" I huffed, struggling to climb out of the well up the rope Grandpa left me. I didn't want to be around the royal demon anymore, him and all of his snootiness. His mood swings were making me crazy, he was worse than a woman!

The next thing I knew, an arm was around my waist and I was being yanked from the well by a powerful jump. Sesshomaru sat me down beside him carefully, not meeting my eyes as I straightened out my clothes. "It would have taken all day if you tried to climb up that vine by yourself, injured." He answered my silence and I nodded, stepping closer to him. I almost forgot I'd been injured. The last time he placed his lips on my skin the pain went away – it hadn't come back, either.

There was one problem, if Sesshomaru was in my time. I touched his armor and he snarled, grabbing my neck so he could pin me against the shrine wall. For the first time since our encounter this time, I feared him. "Do not touch a demon lord's armor ever again if you know what is good for you," he growled, showing me his terrifying red eyes. I cringed away and he dropped me, letting me fall to my feet that had only been lifted an inch or so off the ground.

I coughed, shaking my head at his immediate hostility. "You cannot wear armor here, Sesshomaru-sama. You'll ruin anything it touches! And besides, there are no demons in my time-"

"No demons?" His voice was low, cold…rudely interrupting. I saw a look of confusion in his expression. He took a protective stance in front of me anyway, knowing if I said there were no demons where he was from one would certainly appear. This was still so mortifying. I could only imagine how it was for him.

I nodded, stepping cautiously closer to him as he absorbed the knowledge and took in the scents around him. I knew he came up with nothing when his wild eyes calmed to a state of boredom and emotionlessness. There were no demons that I knew of, in this time. "May I please take off your armor?" I moved for it and he grabbed my hand in his and turned his red eyes on me.

He snarled, his breath flowing across the side of my neck. I shivered and wanted to go closer, but I was too afraid to even move. "You may escort me back to my own time, Miko." I glared at the use of the name and he didn't take it back, even after throwing my hand to the side. "I do not wish to stay here with you."

"Oh gee, you think I really want you here? I'm not going back yet, if I do Inuyasha will kill us both!" I actually laughed at his self-flattering thoughts "A demon lord that could slay my entire family, do you really think me so selfish as to get them mixed up in all of this?" I shot back, earning myself widened eyes from the lord. He was surprised?

"Your family resides here, looking over a shrine?" He wondered, slowly opening the door just enough to see outside. Whatever he saw must have been enough to convince him I was not lying about anything I'd said because he began to take off the spiked armor around his kimono. "Where am I to put these things if I wish to meet your family?" he wondered, holding them up to me as I went speechless. Meet them? Fuck.

"You wish to meet my family? Please don't tell me you're going to slay them." I was taken aback when he removed his swords and took my hand to silence me. My eyes looked down to where our bodies touched and warmth spread everywhere, not just across my cheeks.

His face was hard, uncaring of me, but I'd insulted his honor. "You think me so vile as to kill the people who will be the hosts of my stay? I assure you…Kagome…I have more honor in me than Inuyasha does." He spoke the words with such venom I knew he wasn't lying. But why did he want to meet my family?

"Why?" I wondered, pushing my hand against his unarmored chest as he tried to leave the shrine. "Why do you want to meet them?" I whispered, not even daring to look into his eyes. I was expecting an insult for even assuming he'd want to, but he removed my hand and placed his claw under my chin. We were standing in a shrine, a place that demons were not to lurk, but I didn't want to be here with anyone else.

My eyes were met by smoldering golden ones, and he spoke lowly – his words were only meant for my ears. "I am curious about you. I wish to know more."

I…didn't even know where to begin with that. I nodded, giving up my arguments because he left Tokijin and Tensaiga behind with all of his armor and the moko-moko he wore over his shoulder. If Sesshomaru was just curious, maybe if he figured something out about me he could let me know. I didn't even know who I was now.

"I live with my mother, my grandfather, and my little brother Souta. I'm sure they won't be accustomed to seeing such a powerful demon," I blushed as I spoke highly of him. "So please just be considerate of that. My grandfather might even throw sutras at you," I chuckled, remembering the time he'd done it to Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru asked a question then that pained me to answer, but expected. "And what of your father?"

I stopped walking and looked down at the ground, tears suddenly pooling in my eyes like they always did when I thought of the man. He died when I was so young, Souta didn't even remember him, but I did. I touched the jewel between my breasts and answered the demon quietly. "He died," I spoke coldly, not looking back at the demon that was admiring all of the modern things around him. My father…I could still remember his smile.

He was silent, even after I started walking toward the main house again, but after a few moments of my silent tears he spoke. "I am sorry for your loss, Kagome. My father, too, died when I was much younger." He stood beside me instead of at a slower pace behind me, and I felt affection coming from his eyes, but I didn't look to confirm or shoot down my suspicions. It felt good to just think he was showing me he cared. At least someone did.

"Kagome! You're finally-" My mother stopped right where she began, staring up at the attractive man stalking slightly behind me. He was clearly NOT Inuyasha.

Even I was still a little humbled by Sesshomaru's looks. His long silver hair flowed down to his knees, his pale skin almost shined in the sunlight, but I knew my mom was staring at the blue moon on his forehead and magenta stripes across his cheeks – two signs of Inu-Youkai royalty. But the most prominent thing was, the lack of a left arm. "W-who is this?" She asked politely, smiling up at the demon with her sweetest motherly grin after getting caught staring at the lack of limb by me.

He bowed his head. "My name is Sesshomaru, the demon lord of the Western lands beyond the well. It is an honor to meet the mother of the Miko that has saved so many lives of people close to me." Even my eyes were wide at the level of respect he held for my mother. I had no idea he held me so highly…even for just saving Rin a few times.

My mother bowed back at him and smiled again, making Sesshomaru give of his usual emotionless expression. "It is a great honor to meet another one of Kagome's friends from the feudal era, I must say. Please, come in. Are you hungry?"

I watched as they all stared at him, standing so out of place in the living room and shook my head with a smile. _Sesshomaru-sama, I wonder what it's like for you to be around so many humans_? As suspected, I jumped between Sesshomaru and a useless sutra, glaring at grandpa. He'd promptly screamed DEMON loud enough for the entire island to hear and I knew Sesshomaru's reactions to attacks. What surprised me was the way his hand gripped my shirt protectively, but it was removed when he saw the sutra was completely obsolete.

"Grandpa," I glared, sensing a nerve popping out on my forehead. "Sesshomaru-sama is only going to be staying for the duration of my time here. He is a demon, can't you understand why it is a bad idea to attack him with sutras that _don't work_?" I snarled, making Souta and Grandpa both flee in fear. I smiled and turned toward a surprised looking demon, taking his hand in mine.

"Come, Sesshomaru-sama," I tugged on his arm until he followed me up the steps. "Away from all the humans who will only stare and wonder about you," I joked, pushing him into my room. He looked around at all of the pink things curiously but didn't comment on anything.

I had to admit, he looked so different without the armor protecting his already impenetrable skin. Younger, less threatening…and that was when I had an idea. "Here," I handed him a chipped off piece of the sacred jewel clump. "You can probably go back with this, I totally forgot about the power they have over the well." I handed the shard to him and he made a noise in the back of his throat.

"I shall stay until you decide to return, Miko."

I sighed deeply at that and fell across my bed, groaning with a pillow over my face. "What about Rin?"

"She is currently at the village that idiotic hanyou protects, under the watch of the old priestess. She has A-Un and Jaken with her as well. She will be fine for more than a few days," he removed the pillow and I found him staring down at me. "Please don't hide your face from me, Miko."

Blushing as I always seemed to do around him, I nodded in agreement and sat up. "Well, you should go home tomorrow, Sesshomaru-sama. You know Inuyasha and his temper. I know Miroku and Sango will keep Rin safe but if he wants revenge on you where would he go to get it?" His eyes agreed with me and he nodded one curt motion.

"I shall stay here for the night and watch over you, as much as you insist it is safe here, I have yet to see that for myself. " He sat down beside the bed, alert as one could be and I rolled my eyes.

Probably stupidly, I let my hand run through his hair and sighed his name, making him go rigid and glance over at me with annoyed eyes. "Sleep, I promise it's safe. This is the one place where I can assure you that you can let your guard down."

It only took a few hours for my point to be made. The sound of cars had died down, the sound of the day had faded into the night, and the only thing to be heard were crickets singing in the summer night. I felt a depression in the bed behind me and opened my eyes to see Sesshomaru was no long sitting in front of me, but lying beside me on the big bed, his eyes shut in a way that told me not to bother him or ask why he'd decided to lie with me.

But…I didn't really care why. I flopped over on my stomach, wrapping an arm around his middle, and fell into a deep much needed slumber beside the most powerful demon that ever lived.

**A/N: Shizz ;) The inspiration is just hitting me a lot lately. I'm really happy with this chapter, but next time it will be in Fluffy's view before he goes back down the well. n_n Who else thinks something might just happen between these two? Hehehe**

**Review n_n**

**-Panda**


	5. Decision

**A/N: Oooo! Double update :D I shouldn't be so happy...that just shows I really have nothing to do with my time but fantasize! **

**Enjoy it n_n**

**Chapter Seven **

**Decision**

Get off me, I'll kill you!

_Kami, come closer, let me taste you again_.

Get away, wench!

…_Don't leave me_.

I snarled at my mind, telling it to shut up before I copped my own head off. Such conflict all for a stupid human! Kagome lie across me, her arm very comfortably settled across my chest while he fingers played with the kimono just above my heart. She was…smiling. She was smiling because she was close to me. Could she feel this? I wondered as I touched her hand to my cheek. Could she feel the way my heart thudded for her?

I hoped not.

I stared down at her, successfully unable to sleep now. Her face was so peaceful when she was away from her own feelings. The crease that formed between her eyebrows whenever she saw Inuyasha had smoothed out, her lips were twisted into a smile as she played with my hair in one of her fingers, her breathing had evened out, but…I could hear it. I could hear the way her heart stuttered and thudded in the same rhythm mine did. Was I falling in love with this insignificant Miko?

No.

I simply wanted to mate with her, I lied to myself. I'd rutted a few other demon women before and I was not blind to the selfishness that sex posed, but this feeling wasn't anything like that. This feeling wasn't the simple carnal need to fuck that lurked within every demon. This feeling. I couldn't even place it and I had no desire too. It made me curious. _She_ made me curious. Her hair fanned out across my chest, as she moved even closer and linked her leg with mine. I growled lowly in the back of my throat and felt my sex rise, the desire to mate only made more prominent by the scent of her arousal flooding my senses again.

My hand ran down her leg, touching and scraping across the soft flesh. She moaned lowly, whispering my name like she knew it was me until my hand cupped her perfectly rounded ass and my eyes rolled back in my head. I turned to the side, taking my arm from her legs to wrap it around her body while she curled into me. She was so small. My hand could easily touch every one of her ribs.

"Inuyasha must never feed you," I whispered, looking at the way her hips jutted out of her skin. I didn't notice it before now. The only fat to be found on her was from the shapely breasts pressed against my chest now, making my need harden uncomfortably.

Her hips moved from my sight as she pressed her entire body into me. She had to feel the hardened length pressing against the V between her legs. Her head tucked under my neck, I could feel her breath on my ear and taste her arousal around me. Growling, I pressed her into the bed, hovering over her heavy sleeping form, and found myself stunned by how she looked. Her little fingers were still wrapped in my hair that now made a curtain around us. Her smile hadn't left and I could feel how much she wanted me when her hips thrust forward, soaking me with her wet desire.

"No," I shook my head. "I will not do this. I won't hurt you," I whisperd, letting a clawed hand drag across her cheek when I moved back to lying beside her.

I couldn't wake her with a kiss. I couldn't wake her by pressing into her and telling her how much I wanted her, too. If the need to mate was all that pushed me, how did that make me better than the hanyou who left her? I would surely do the same once I claimed her as my own, wouldn't I? "There is only one thing that is certain right now," I whispered as I turned and stared at her striking face. "I will not allow you to be hurt anymore."

As if she could feel my gaze, her eyes stirred open and fell on mine after the initial shock of our closeness. "Are you happy?" I wondered, startling her even more now that I was speaking to her. I didn't understand why my simple conversation made her so nervous.

"Uh," she stammered, letting go of my hair like I was referring to that. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I'd grabbed-"

"That is not what I'm asking," I interrupted her mumbling. "I asked, are you happy, Kagome? Right now, beside me?"

_Please just say no. Say no so I can leave and never think about you again. _

Then she did as I feared. She smiled again and moved closer, pressing her face to my shoulder. I didn't push her away but the stupid demon pulled her closer. His need was beginning to become bothersome. "I would say," she whispered when she began breathing again. "I wouldn't rather be anywhere else right now."

Damn you, wench. Why couldn't you just say no and push me away? Why did she have to press her entire body against mine, smile against my skin as I collected her even closer to me? "You should be terrified," I reasoned with her.

"Who said I'm not?" She responded. "I am terrified of you, Sesshomaru-sama. It would be so easy…" She whispered, sighing as her spare hand traced the markings on my face, "For you to kill me right now. It's the fact that you don't that makes me stay right here." As if to make a point she pressed her chest against mine and I fought the discomfort in my hakama.

"Do not test me," I snarled, letting the demon die down, "if it were my life against yours I would walk away." Even I could hear the lie in my voice. What was happening to me? Would I really lie my own life down to save her?

I already knew the answer, and so did she. She smirked and stared into my eyes. "You're a terrible liar. It's a good thing all of those death threats you dished out to your enemies weren't lies." She was mocking me.

I flipped us over so I was on top of her, glaring down. "I do not lie. I have no need to."

_Challenge my dominance girl, just fucking try it. _

She glared back up at me and sat up with her elbows. Our lips were inches from meeting. "I believe you need to lie to me," she whispered, "I believe I scare you, too and you lie to me to hide what you're really thinking."

I pressed into her further, making us both aware of how hard she was making me. "What I'm really thinking…"I trailed off, dipping my head down so close to hers. Too close. "Is none of your concern, Miko."

Her eyes shut, her skin chilled because I was so close and if I hadn't moved, her lips would have connected with mine. She was still weakening me. I wanted I kiss her now. If I did, there would be no stopping the beast within me. She would be mine if he emerged, whether she liked it or not, and I didn't want that. I wanted her to feel…I wanted…

Irritated, I took her hand and placed it above my heart, staring into those deep blue pools for any sign of any emotion other than bewilderment and fear. Did she feel it? Could she hear how it sang because I was so close to her? Her eyes went from confused to understanding and the tiny smile on her lips gave me everything I needed.

To move away. I rolled to the side of her, staring at the ceiling of her home, and unconsciously pulled her close when her head hit my chest. "Kagome," I mumbled because I could hear her erratic heartbeat – a sign that she was still awake. "When we return, you must learn to use a sword to defend yourself. The sacred arrows you shoot will not work on every demon and if Inuyasha or I are not there to protect you, next time you will be killed." I cringed at the thought of her lying in a pool of her own blood and felt rabid rage burn through my chest._ I won't let that happen_. This time, my demon and I agreed on something.

She nodded, sighing against my warm skin. "Will you teach me?" Hope dominated her tone, a hope I could not and would not deny.

"If that is what you wish." I was going to be the one who did it anyway. I wouldn't let another man or creature get close enough to hurt her with a blade unless it was me.

She rested her head against my chest again, giggling in a way that sent a warmth all the way from the tips of my hair to my feet. "Imagine, me, training with the daiyoukai that dominates the western lands. I'll certainly be killed the moment I raise my blade." I narrowed my eyes at her lack of confidence in me.

"I will not allow you to die." _And if you do, I shall follow you into the depths of the underworld to bring you back to me. _

She seemed to trust me for she rest against me again and let her heartbeat calm enough to match mine. I knew she was sleeping now. It truly was peaceful here beside her, in this strange world. I felt like I could shut my eyes and dream for the first time in a hundred years. So I did just that, gathering the girl into an embrace until the night sky faded from my sight.

* * *

**(Kpov)**

_Mmm. He's so warm_, I sighed to myself as the birds chirping in the morning light woke me. I knew exactly whose arm was draped across my waist as he slept and it made me blush so deeply I thought I'd never go back to being pale. I turned so slowly, not waking him, and stared in awe at his face. He was so peaceful, so calm: I'd never seen him this way and I had to admit to myself I liked it. My fingers barely touched the skin that held the crescent moon of the west and came back to rest beside my chest.

Last night…I still felt light headed thinking of what happened. I woke up to find him a completely changed man from the one that pulled me out of the well this afternoon. His eyes were soft and insecure, wondering as he asked me questions. The only hardened again when I shot down his dominant act, purposely trying to get him mad at me to see where it would go. He almost kissed me. He was so close I could smell the jasmine from his breath and the honey of his skin.

But we, I looked up at the sleeping lord, would never be anything more than acquaintances. He despised me, Inuyasha hated me for choosing Sesshomaru in battle, and even I was confused because of the way my heart seemed to beat for him and him only. He would move, I would move to accommodate him. He would breathe, I found myself letting out a breath. How had it become like this? I was so in sync with him that I never wanted to be parted from him.

And that was the most selfish thing I could ever think. Surely, if I stayed beside him like I wanted to there would only be trouble for him. Demons came after me because I was the girl who saw the jewel shards, humans came after me for the same reason but were much easier to defeat. I could never put Rin in danger because I wanted to stay with him, too. Demons would devour her if we were even the slightest bit distracted in a battle. A battle I would inevitably cause. No…I could not go with him. I would not endanger him like that.

"Kagome," he whispered, his eyes still shut in peace. "It is very unsettling to be stared at while one tries to sleep." I blushed and looked away, leaving the safety of his arms for what I knew would be the last time.

"Sorry, Sesshomaru-sama," I smiled falsely down at him, but he didn't seem to notice the pain inside of me. "I was just thinking and happened to be staring at you at the same time." Much better liar than he was, I had to give myself that. Last night his eyes betrayed him and I knew mine wouldn't.

He was standing in the middle of my room, staring over at me as I rummaged through my closet, shamefully, with my ass sticking up in the air. I blushed when he came up behind me, innocently looking over my shoulder, but if anyone were to come in right now it would look super bad. "What do you seek?" He wondered, poking his head in with me.

"This!" I cheered proudly. It was a bright pink Yukata with white cherry blossoms on the sleeves, the perfect size for Rin to grow into. "It's for Rin, for saving my life." I explained as I wrapped it up for him.

"I'm sure she will enjoy it. You have my gratitude, Miko." He watched as I set the package down inside of a black bag that he would be taking back today.

I smiled at him when his arm caught me and turned me to face him suspiciously. "It's nothing, really. I'm going to pack some medicines and things Rin will need in the near future. You won't have to explain anything; I'll attach notes for her to read with some other things – books, things to entertain her when you are away." I assured him, grabbing several objects from inside of my closet.

Another kimono that was more for daily use that I only used one time, some coloring books and paints, a book to press flowers into so they would last forever…and some womanly things she would certainly need soon all went into the black book bag. I could only imagine how awkward that would be explaining to Sesshomaru, so I explained in detail what each thing was for on a note. "She does read, doesn't she?" I asked, knowing a lot of women back in the feudal era didn't have an education.

"Of course," he nodded. "Rin has been living in the castle for about a year with me now, she has regular education on history, reading, writing, mathematics." I smiled at the affectionate way he talked about her and slipped the shard of the jewel I meant to give to him last night inside of the inner pocket of his kimono.

"I do not wish to possess the jewel," he glared as if I was insulting his power and I rolled my eyes.

"It is the only way you can return back there, Sesshomaru-sama. I am going to stay for a few more nights and recover a bit more without worrying about demons." I was lying about the recovery, I felt perfectly fine, but I would stay until I knew Sesshomaru would head for the west again so I could…well what I was about to do didn't matter. I'd already made up my mind.

"Very well," he conceded, picking up the pack like it didn't weigh a good thirty pounds with all of the things I'd shoved into it. "I thank you for allowing me to meet your family and showing me what the future will be like. I'm headed south; to Totosai's workshop, and then I expect you to meet me at the castle of the west. I will send Jaken and Ah-Un to your village in a week's time." He said this because he did not want me to forget about our arrangement for me to learn how to fight properly.

I nodded, but had no intention of following him to the west. I bowed my head, only to have a clawed finger very quickly push it up. He glared at me shaking his head. "Do not bow to me, Miko. It does not suit you."

Blushing at his intensity, I tried very hard to move on from the feeling of wanting to kiss him until I was blue in the face. "Come, I will accompany you to the well," I changed the topic, hoping the fire in his eyes extinguished by the time we got outside.

My mother grabbed my arm before I could follow him and I nodded, encouraging him to stop for a moment – ahead of us, of course. "What is that man to you, Kagome?" She asked, implications dripping through her words. "Last night, I checked on you to make sure he hadn't murdered you and saw he was holding you close to him! What about Inuyasha?" I flinched at the mention of the two-timer and looked at the ground.

"Sesshomaru-sama is only a friend mom, and even that I think is pushing it. He fell into the well with me and I was too tired to take him back the same day. Inuyasha…he made his choice and his choice was not me. I'm sure Sesshomaru was only holding onto me last night because it was cold," I knew she would see right through that one. It was warm enough last night to sleep in a pair of shorts on top of my blanket. Before she could respond, I headed toward the demon lord.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm only accompanying him to the well!" I assured her, blushing because I knew he'd heard every word. "I'm sorry-"

"You have nothing to apologize for, Kagome. I'm sure I would have said the same to my mother if she had asked me why I was keeping a human," he smirked down at me and I was shocked by the display of emotion. Was he thawing out around me? _I doubt it_.

We entered the shrine and I helped him put on his armor again. After it was locked into place and he took Tokijin, I lifted Tensaiga off of the shrine wall and handed it to him before he could yell at me for touching his sword. "Thank you," he whispered, placing the sword beside Tokijin safely in his sash.

My chest tightened when he headed toward the well, turning away from me suddenly. "Wait," I begged, running down the steps carefully before I crushed my body against his. He stiffened in shock, but wrapped an arm around me loosely. I wasn't having any of that apparently, and wrapped my arms around his neck, tightly pressing myself against him. Our cheeks were touching, his arm tightened around my waist, and I felt his shoulders sag like the weight had been lifted from them.

As soon as I began assaulting him with my crazy possessed arms and body, I pulled away, grinning as best as I could while trying not to cry. His arm still hung around my waist and I knew his eyes were staring at me, just trying to figure me out. "Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama. For saving my life," I whispered, "it's three times now." He was no longer indebted to me, in his mind like in mine.

He did something I hadn't expected. What I expected was a huff of boredom and then a jump down the well into the blue light, but what I got made my eyes widen and my cheeks flame. He pulled me tight to his chest, snarling in my ear with passion I only knew he had when he was fighting. "I do not need to be in your debt to enjoy your company, you stupid girl," he pushed me away then, glaring at me icily. "I expect to see you in one week. Do not make me come back here to find you, Kagome."

And he vanished into the well, into the light, but when it left the shrine I let a tear drop. "I will not be seeing you ever again, Sesshomaru. I'm sorry," I whispered, keeping my emotions bottled up until he left. If he saw me cry simply because I swore to never see him, never put him in danger, he would have thought me insane. "_I do not need the protection of a human woman_," he'd say. Maybe he didn't, but if we got any closer Rin would be compromised.

I walked away from the bone eater's well, preparing myself for the next time I would go through it. It was just lucky I still had my Miko clothing and my sacred bow and arrows here in the modern era. I would need them if I were to carry out my plan. I passed on breakfast, went upstairs to the bathroom, and enjoyed the last bath I knew I'd have for a long time. I shut my eyes and felt the water envelope me and pretended the warmth was from the golden eyed man that haunted my memories.

**A/N: **

**What's she plotting? Hm…**

**Review :)**

**-Panda**


	6. A Sword For A Fang

**Chapter Eight**

**A Sword For A Fang**

I would never get used to this blue light. It felt like I was traveling through time and space, left me wondering how fluid time really was, and finally I landed at the bottom of the well – five hundred years away from her. I felt pain at that, a different pain that didn't hinder me but hurt me from the inside. I jumped from the well, cursing the woman for making me feel this way, and walked toward the scent of Rin and Jaken.

There had been many times when I would leave for the entire night and Rin would be safely tucked away with Ah-Un. That didn't mean I didn't feel worry whenever she was alone. I headed to the village that stunk of Inuyasha's angry failure and found the little girl sitting beside the old woman's hut. "Rin," I called to her, looking around to see if Inuyasha was anywhere near.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she laughed, running to me to envelope my leg into a massive embrace. "I'm so glad you've returned, but where is Kagome?" Her big eyes saw the pack slung over my shoulder. I looked at the black pack as well, thinking of just how delicious she looked as she bent over it, right in front of me…

I gazed down at the young girl, handing her the small kimono Kagome said she could change into now that hers was getting older. "She is staying in her time to recover. It is much safer for her there, but she has left you many things to occupy…" I trailed off, seeing as she'd already ran into the hut to change into the dark blue kimono she could wear every day. I cared for the girl but her patience was almost as bad as mine was.

As I smiled and appraised the navy blue kimono she graced, I could smell the stench of sex and dirt. "Sesshomaru!" I inwardly sighed at that annoying voice. "Where is Kagome?" It snarled and I didn't even turn as he point his sword toward me. I could smell the graveyard woman behind him now and my nose wrinkled in revulsion. She didn't smell anything like Kagome; her fragrance was sweet and innocent just like the summer.

I turned toward the hanyou, momentarily letting Kagome slip from my mind. If she hadn't my voice would be soft and caring as it was when I was with her alone. "She is in her time, resting from her wounds. Apparently she cannot rest in this village as long as you are waving your sword around like a madman."

He huffed, glaring at me. I knew he could smell her _all_ over me. I wore her scent with pride and challenged him to say anything about it. "Why did you spend the night beyond the well? And why the hell can't I go through anymore?" He demanded and my eyes widened only slightly at his revelation. He could no longer pass over to Kagome's world, even with the power of the jewel the priestess would lend him?

…And I could. The look on his face alone was worth the price of staying the night with her.

"I stayed because she was too weak to accompany me back that very same day and I had to see that she was protected for the night – doing your job for you once again, half-breed. I came back with the help of a jewel shard she'd given me-" I rummaged through my pocket as the dead woman interrupted me. An act worthy of death, if she was among the living.

Her deep voice was nothing like Kagome's either…did the Miko even come from this corpse's soul? It was hard to believe that was the case as she stood before me. "Why is that shard untainted? You are a demon, are you not?" The woman behind Inuyasha spoke, her eyes narrowing as she gazed beyond the armor to see the pure white light of Kagome's jewel shard.

I narrowed my eyes. "I am a demon who does not desire the jewel. Without desire," I took the thing out and stared at the white light that came from inside of Kagome's soul. "It is but a sliver of a glowing rock. I will hold onto this only for the purpose of traveling back there if the Miko does not follow my orders." I growled, having a feeling it might come to that.

Damn woman, so independent and stubborn. She almost made me outwardly smile, but that would only ever happen in my chambers, alone with her. If it ever did happen. Inuyasha interrupted my scattered thoughts with more boredom. "What orders? She's to stay in the village with us!" He shouted childishly.

"She does not take orders from you, half breed. She has chosen not to stand beside you any longer. Kagome has agreed to accompany me to the western lands to learn how to defend herself properly. When I see that she is fit for battle, she can come here if she so chooses, but it will be her choice, not yours Inuyasha." I ignored his protests and continued talking, knowing he would listen if it had anything to do with the woman who could see the jewel shards.

"Bastard, how the hell are you gonna train Kagome? You'd probably kill her the minute you laid a hand on her!"

I smirked at that, stepping closer to him as the wind blew through my robes. My demon was challenging him for her now. "I've already laid a hand on her and I assure you she did not move away from _me_, hanyou." I ignored the way he shouted when he finally caught the scent on me.

I was already bored with this conversation. Kagome or no Kagome, it mattered not to me what the hanyou was feeling. "Rin, take Ah-Un and Jaken back to the castle. Do not make any stops until you get there and inform Akemi that I will be in the southern lands for three days' time." She nodded and I placed the pack on one of Ah-Un's shoulders. She would be safe with the dragon and Jaken.

"Hey don't ignore me, asshole! I'm talking to you!" I could still hear Inuyasha having a tantrum, even after I touched a hand to Rin's cheek and glared at Jaken. His woman tried to calm him down, as she should have. My patience with the mutt was wearing thin.

"If she is hurt, I will kill you."

His eyes widened, tears spilling from them as he bowed three consecutive times. "Y-yes, Milord! To the western castle, Ah-Un!" he screeched, commanding the flying dragon to his purpose.

Ignoring the shouting and complaining behind me, I walked over to the stunned elder priestess. She had never seen me to calm, so controlled around my brother, but the only reason I was like this was because I didn't care what he thought. "Thank you for caring for Rin. I will be going now," I assured her she did not have to worry about my presence in Edo now. I would not come for Kagome anyway, Ah-Un would.

"Aye," she narrowed her eyes, at me but not in a suspicious way. "Thank ye for healing her. She is like my own child and for that ye have my gratitude, Sesshomaru-sama."

We shared a mutual nod and I headed south, out of the village, already forgetting about my argument with Inuyasha. He was still on my tail, streaming profanities as he missed me with his attacks. I needed to see Totosai. I needed to forge a weapon worthy of a priestess that could purify demonic energy just by touching a lower demon. There had to be such a weapon and if there wasn't it would be made into existence. I gathered my cloud, flying off into the south, leaving the hanyou on the ground to pout because in his mind I had taken his woman from him.

What I would give to be inside Inuyasha's mind as he thought such things.

"Ah, Sesshomaru! I've been expecting you-" The old man ranted on as I entered the skull he lived in. It took no time at all to get south and the trip almost felt wasted without Jaken complaining all the way. How I loved to torture the toad…

I glared at the old man and sat on the dirt floor, simply telling him to shut up, and spoke. "I need a sword to be forged for a Miko that has extraordinary spiritual powers."

"Ah," he nodded, looking back at the fire with his wide eyes. "So you finally joined forces with Kagome, eh? I didn't see why you hadn't before; she's the only human able to rival your demonic ability with her priestess power. Together I'd wager you'd both be unstoppable!" He rejoiced and I kicked him in the forehead for suggesting such things.

I would not join forces with her. She would not be my ally. She would not live with me in the western castle after her training was finished. "She is not my ally, old fool. I am simply training her to defend herself because Inuyasha has betrayed her for another," I paused. Could she even be called woman? "Priestess."

His eyes narrowed, and he nodded, cursing Inuyasha under his breath. "Very well then," he stuck his hand out and waited for me like I was supposed to know exactly what he wanted me to do. When I glared, he continued tiredly. "I need a fang from the demon that has sworn to protect her! Demon swords only work when they have a human to protect, even you should know that, dog!" I shut my eyes. This old man was trying my patience.

"And why would you want my fang? The woman is but a human priestess to me, I have no claim on her life."

He surprised me by laughing, wiping a giant tear from his eye before staring at me very seriously. "I've heard some bad lies in my time, Sesshomaru-sama, but that one just about takes the crown. How have you managed to stay alive when lying to your enemies?"

I swore the punch I gave him across his head was heard throughout the southern lands. I snarled and stood, glaring down at him. "I do not care for her! I am NOT like my father!" I shouted, pacing the hut as he watched me with watery eyes. My eyes flared red and died back to gold as I thought of the Miko beyond the well. Was I like my father? Falling in love with a human only to make a worthless hanyou?

I did not care about Kagome like that! I simply wanted to mate with her because of…well I couldn't say why but I did! I did not care for her like I cared for Rin. I wanted to do things to her that I would never even consider doing with another human, but that did not mean she had my heart.

"Sesshomaru, I will make the sword with your fang because you have already sworn to protect her. Every demon in the land knows you slayed one of Naraku's incarnations before it could have killed her. If you don't want to protect her, the sword will have no extraordinary powers, but if you do," he warned with wide eyes, "Kagome will be almost as powerful as you are."

I seriously doubted the Miko would ever rival my power, but the knowledge that the being I slayed to save her was from Naraku made my eyes narrow in hatred. I snorted, but opened my mouth anyway. "We'll use the right fang…" he mumbled to himself as he yanked the tooth out. I blinked at the pain, but other than the discomfort of not having a tooth I was unaffected. And…for her to have something to protect her until the day I perished, was worth it. I sat outside of the hut, my mind on her as the sun began to set and the sound of iron clashed against a giant hammer.

* * *

**(Kpov)**

_In one week's time_. I could still hear his voice in my head, still smell the scent of him all over me – after about ten showers it still hadn't gone away.

It'd been that much time, though. I was staring down the well, my legs hanging over the edge, as I decided what I was gonna tell my mom. I wondered if she expected my decision, after all I was very quiet and kept to myself this visit. It didn't matter what she thought about it, really. I'd be back every couple of months anyway for supplies and she'd still see me without knowing how dangerous my choice was. My bag was packed, my school uniform graced my body for the last time, and I went into the house, ready to become the woman I was meant to be my whole life.

I was already wearing clothing from five hundred years ago, but now I felt different. It empowered me, told me that I was ready to accept this and protect others. I nodded at my mom after explain to her my wishes and desires for my new life. "But I will be back for supplies, and don't worry," I lied, smiling. "I'll be traveling with Inuyasha and the guys."

It was just too painful to come back here and go back to him every time I traveled through the well. I didn't fit here anymore…and now I didn't even fit with Inuyasha. He had Kikyo, a better shard detector that I'd ever be. Sango and Miroku were falling steadily in love and I could see their future with a beautiful baby. I'd have to find some way to bring Shippo with me, though. I would not leave the Kitsune I called my child behind. He would be heartbroken.

But...when my mind fell on Sesshomaru my heart broke in two. I felt something so deep the night he lay beside me, holding met to him, but I had to give him up. Tears sprung into my eyes. Why did I let myself fall for another Inu-Youkai...even if this one was warm and caring behind his mask, and able to protect me like no other. I sighed, looking at the stars above me and wondered if he was looking at the same sky. _Sesshomaru-sama...I wish I could run to you and love you as my heart does...but you would never love me back. _

My mom nodded, seeming to accept that this was what I wanted, and hugged me tight, helping me forget about the demon in my thoughts. "I am proud of you, Kagome. You're braver than I'll ever be." She smiled and my family walked me to the well.

Night had fallen over the rainy sky on the other side, and I knew it was perfect for the plan I was about to execute. The rain…it washed everything away. They would never be able to find me and I could live without hurting anyone anymore. Rin would live a long life beside Sesshomaru until she married, Inuyasha and Kikyo would be free to love and protect the village…and _I_…

_I might just be able to find a place in this world or the next_. I jumped into the well, embracing the blue light as tears flooded my eyes while the rain beat across my hair. _Where I belong_.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Aw, so we know that Kagome is leaving, but where to? **

**Review**

**-Panda**


	7. Washed Away

**A/N: Shit guys, I'd say I'm sorry for updating but the fucking story is just flooding throug my mind. I had a dream about this chapter last night o.o**

**Chapter Nine**

**Washed Away**

"Damn that blasted ningen woman!" I could already hear Jaken cursing from where he sat atop Ah-Un. It had been a week since Totosai created a sword not even I could wield and one week since I last saw her smile. I didn't enjoy how much it troubled me to have her out of my life, but today I was…_eager_…to see her face. Rin skipped away from me, giggling into the garden as she was led away by my most faithful servant, Akemi. She was Rin's guardian when I was otherwise occupied.

But I could not smell Kagome among Jaken or Ah-Un, and that meant she was not here. Had she really defied me and stayed in her own time? My eyes narrowed when the toad demon sulked into the castle, his eyes widening when I was the first creature he saw. "Sess-Sesshomaru-sama! I tried to bring her back, I really did!" He wailed, grabbing onto my pant leg like it would show him more mercy than I would.

So she was back but she refused to come to me? I smirked, thinking that this was her way of having me come retrieve her myself. Did she really need to stoop that low to be beside me? "She refused to accompany you, Jaken? Did you call her a ningen to her face?" I challenged, and the demon backed away, bowing so deeply he might as well have been lying on the floor.

"N-no Milord! I went to Kaede's village and asked for Kagome, but the reply I received was most troubling! Inuyasha thought she was with you, he hasn't any idea where she's gone to!" He wailed, making my eyes widen in shock.

She…was not in Edo? I grabbed the toad by his kimono, snarling in his face. "Where is she?" I dropped him to the ground when he begged I didn't kill him, looking out to the window to catch her summer scented perfume, but found nothing. She was not near here…she was not anywhere.

"N-no one knows, Sesshomaru-sama! She's vanished, perhaps in the world beyond the well?" He asked, timidly coming closer with his bowing gestures.

If that was the case then it was as simple as me reaching through the well to grab her by her hair and drag her to the castle. I would not let her roam the countryside with Inuyasha or live by herself without protection. She was the Miko known to guard the jewel: she wasn't safe anywhere she went.

"I am leaving now, Jaken. Tell Rin I will return in a few days," I didn't even wait for his response before I shot off toward the village, toward Kagome and her smile.

* * *

**(Kpov)**

I knew I was back in the forest of Inuyasha as it rained down on me and the drops were the only sound. I just didn't know where to go from here. East? If I were to head east I had to pass through Edo, which I planned to do anyway, but east was where Inuyasha always seemed to be. And west was his brother, he'd know I was there the moment I stepped onto his lands. South was Totosai and if he saw me he'd never be able to keep his, or Myoga the flea's, mouth shut. First thing I knew I had to do was get my Kitsune. After that, we'd both figure something out together. If Shippo wanted to come with me on this journey, that is.

As I pulled myself from the well, I shut my eyes as the memory of him on top of me surfaced. He acted so restrained, but to see his eyes smoldering and burning for me, my body shivered and it wasn't from the rain. I gasped, feeling him between my legs and he got even harder when I stood up to him. I wanted to taste those lips so badly…

Why the fuck was I remembering this now? It was going to be hard enough leaving him, worrying him beyond imagination. Now my memories were only trying to make me feel worse about it.

Stealthily, I put up a barrier Kaede had taught me to do that would disguise my scent. I often used it when fleeing to my own time to stay away from Inuyasha for a while. Inuyasha would not smell me and therefore would not wake and make me stay behind with him. I wandered through the huts until I found the one that rested at the base of the shrine.

I knew my Shippo would be here, but I didn't expect to see Kikyo curled into Inuyasha's lap outside of the hut; both of them were asleep though. I pushed the bamboo door back so quietly not even I could hear, and found him sound asleep beside Kilala and Lady Kaede. As easily as I could, I lifted him into my arms and pressed my fingers to his lips before he could speak. My barrier kept out scent, not sound.

When we were carefully out of hearing limits of the village, I put down my barrier and took my fingers off the Kit's lips. "Mama," he whispered like he was scared. "Where are we going?" He cuddled further into my breast, hiding his tears from me. I loved it when he called me his mama, it made me feel like he truly accepted me into his life. I wouldn't trade him for the world and I had to take him with me – it would be the only selfish act I'd commit from now on.

I smiled down at him and kissed his soft forehead, sighing because he expected an answer. "Shippo, I just wanted to ask you if you wished to stay with Inuyasha or you wanted to come with me. I can't be with him anymore, not now that Kikyo is part of the group. It…" I paused, trying to find the words.

He pressed his face into my neck then. "It hurts you," he whispered, touching my face with his paw. When I nodded his tears dissipated and he gave me a confident nod of his head. "I'll follow you anywhere, Kagome. I hate Inuyasha and Kikyo anyway. She's always telling me if I don't behave she'll purify me!" He shivered at that and I chuckled, pressing my face to his.

Oh I could kill her just for threatening it! Shippo was the kindest soul I'd ever met, he couldn't be purified! "I'd never let that mean, old hag purify you, Shippo. You're mine," I assured him, heading toward the only direction I knew Sesshomaru and Inuyasha wouldn't be interested in. It would take a week or two to find a village isolated enough to stay in, but as the rain began to stop I felt hope for Shippo and I.

I watched the sky turn pink with the morning and found myself missing the warm scent of jasmine and spiced honey. We traveled six hours away from Edo before Shippo took me on his back and I lied down, thinking. The smell Sesshomaru invaded my mind with sent chills down my spine and I found myself wanting him more than ever. "Mama?" Shippo asked from his spot below me.

"Yes?"

He looked at me curiously for a moment before finally letting me know what was on his mind. "And why don't we go stay with Sesshomaru? He can keep us safe and I'll get to play with Rin all the time!"

He could and that was the problem. "We can't stay with him because I don't want to burden him any more than I already have. I'm the protector of a huge piece of the sacred jewel; my battle will always be for its safety. Any demons that attacked him or Rin would be on my conscious and I can't live with that. We're going to find a home where we're needed, a home where demons won't even think to find us and the war hasn't touched." I promised him, giving him my most reassuring smile. I knew there had to be such a place and I would find it for us.

Or spend my life looking.

* * *

**(Spov)**

"Inuyasha," I called, falling from the sky in front of him with a murderous glare. He was standing beside the priestess by the bone eater's well. "Where is she?" I could hear how uncontrolled my voice was and saw in the reflection of his eyes that my own were bright red. I calmed myself, letting the fear that she had been killed go because I could smell her scent on the well and it wasn't saturated with her blood. The rain had washed it away last night after she emerged, but the strawberry mint was still so clear.

"My guess is she came back, saw it was raining, and decided to go back home for a bath." He shrugged like losing her wasn't a big deal and I snarled at him, taking his throat in my hand. He didn't care about her, but I did, and I would make him pay for not even caring that she might be hurt.

He saw just how serious I was and for once in his miserable like didn't speak. "If she is not returned to me I will skin you alive, pup." I threw him aside, jumped into the well, and waited for the blue light to bring me back to her smile.

"I will kill you if you are still alive, Miko, simply for making me worry about you," I snarled to the light until I was transported to the well and could smell her family above.

I knew my threat was empty, but her scent was stronger here and I stood below for a moment, taking it in. How had a week away from the girl made me so sensitive to her delicate aroma? I could taste her tears, why had she been crying when she was coming back to me?

I did not bother taking off my armor and headed for the main house. The rain around this world covered me and by the time I rapped on the front door of her home, I was soaked through my clothes. "Sesshomaru-sama," she smiled at me warmly. "Come in, Kagome left a few hours ago."

One thing I knew when I stepped into the house was that Kagome was not here. "Where is Kagome?" I asked, trying my best to sound polite without worrying her mother. Surely she had come up with a very intricate lie to be able to go back without her mother's worry.

She thought for a moment and went to the kitchen, retrieving a piece of paper that was fresh with Kagome's scent. "She told me to give this to you if you came looking for her. She said she was going back to live in your time but that she would be with Inuyasha so I shouldn't worry."

I ignored her statement about my brother and unfolded the letter, narrowing my eyes as I read. If she wanted to be with Inuyasha she would be.

_Sesshomaru, _

_I've gone to live on the other side – alone. I won't endanger your life or Rin's with my responsibilities. I'm going to find a place where I can live and die peacefully, without disturbing anyone any longer. _

_Please don't come looking for me. _

Don't come looking for her! "You do not tell me what to do, you foolish Miko." I found myself snarling in front of a frightened human woman, but after a curt bow of my head I left her home and let my true self come to the surface. My eyes glared red, my claws tore the shrine door down and I was into the well faster than her mother could see.

_Damn you, woman. I will find you, you can't have gone that far in one night. Do you really think you're safe in this world without someone to protect you? _Why did she do this to me? Did she not trust that I could keep her safe, not trust that I would give my life for hers in any given instant even if she didn't ask me to?

I froze at the bottom of the well, realizing what this was. What this _feeling_ was. My feet touched the ground five hundred years from her home and I was paralyzed where I stood.

Kagome, just the name sent warmth into my soul – the soul I was convinced I didn't have before I saw that smile. I jumped out of the depths, holding the note in clutched hand, and saw Inuyasha staring at me like I'd gone mad. My hair was still dripping wet and it covered my eyes. I didn't want him to see the warmth they held anyway, that warmth was only meant for her.

My expression was one of desolation: I'd let her get away and she could be dead right now. I wanted to rip the beating heart out of my chest so it stopped irritating me, I wanted to run to her and hold her until we both perished with time because I knew she'd be safe that way. I wanted to go back in time and make her come to my castle with me. I wanted to be in her bed again, wrapped in her arms as her lips soothed mine.

_NO! I won't allow myself to be like him. I will not love her, I refuse to love her._

But I did…care for her. My demon cared for her above all others and he was controlling me as I sat in silence, absorbing my incompetence to keep her out of harm's way. My body was transforming, my true form escaping with a strangled howl of despair because I had lost the only thing I truly wanted to be mine. I snarled at the wind, taking in the scent of her at the well, and shut my eyes to relax into my humanoid self once more. If it wasn't for her scent I would have destroyed the village, every village, until I found her.

_If I find her_. "I will find her," I spoke so lowly the hanyou had to strain to hear me. "And when I do she will never leave my sight again."

* * *

**(Kpov)**

There was actually snow this far up the mountain…snow that was so cold it make me shiver in the traditional Miko clothing I wore. Shippo carried me on his back until we were very far into the mountain country, where villages were scattered below the peaks. But now I was standing in the snow, fighting falling backward, because he couldn't carry me through this, and I didn't expect him to. I clutched Shippo tighter and looked ahead for any refuge, for any hope of getting out of this storm alive. There had to be a village nearby, why else would there be a road? I held my pack up higher, bravely continuing on, until I saw a hut at the base of a hill blurry hill. "Shippo, we'll be alright now," I called over the roar of the peculiar blizzard, and slipped into the warm-in-contrast hut when he whimpered and shivered beneath the top layer of my kimono.

It was so pleasant to be away from the rain, so sweet, that I didn't even notice we were not alone in the small home.

"A priestess?" A deep gravelly voice sounded surprised behind me, obviously seeing me huddled by the door. My eyes widened, hoping the voice didn't belong to a demon, and I clutched my Shippo closer as the shadow approached with an outstretched hand.

**A/N: **

**Oooooooo Sesshomaru was pissed :P I wonder what's gonna happen to Kagome and Shippo? Muhahahhaha. **

**Review ! :D**

**-Panda**


	8. The Village of Hakura

**A/N: Alright, one quick thing. **

**I got a review, and how I love reviews! I just had to answer it. **

**Girl, I think you should check out the first chapter of my story I Kissed A Girl to see I know exactly how to write a lemon and trust me there will be some in this story (hehe).**

**As for the matter of Sesshomaru and Kagome being more "emotional" I really don't think they would be. They just began talking seriously and Kagome likes him, she's trying to know the man behind the mask because she puts up her own mask, but you really expect Sesshy to be all "I love you?" He does hate humans after all…**

**And Kagome is still in love with Inuyasha, that's why she doesn't wanna be with him either! BUT this chapter is a turning point for our sesshy n_n He's gonna admit some things to himself in his desolate search for her. **

**But for the meantime, Kagome loves him like a friend and wants to keep him safe away from the demons always around her. Sure, she had some moments of weakness because come on, *drools* Who wouldn't wanna get with Sesshy if he's all laying up in your bed? :P **

**ANYWAY, sorry for the super long AN. Here it is :)**

**Chapter Ten**

**The Village of Hakura**

"A priestess?" A deep gravelly voice sounded surprised behind me, obviously seeing me huddled by the door. My eyes widened, hoping the voice didn't belong to a demon, and I clutched my Shippo closer as the shadow approached with an outstretched hand.

I cringed, erecting a barrier that would keep any demon out simply out of my fear, and felt a soft hand touching my shoulder – wiping off bits of snow that were chilling me. Shippo peeked out of my Kimono at the same time my eyes took in a withered, beautiful face.

It was a woman, dressed as Kaede always was, but she was taller than I was. She had long white hair that framed her elderly face, bright ruby lips, and stunning bright green eyes. She was a priestess, a very developed one from what I could feel of her aura. "I cannot believe a priestess has wandered into our small village, oh please, come and sit by the fire." She nudged me toward the fire in the middle of the hut where something good smelling was boiling in a cauldron. I felt stupid for not remembering before I left for my time I dressed in the traditional Miko clothes, and for that very reason, she marked me as a priestess. Even if I wasn't a very good one.

"Oh, I am so sorry to intrude, it's just the storm-"

"No, don't worry yourself, dear child," she smiled at me with wrinkled red lips. "Many travelers get lost in these mountains during the annual summer blizzard. We always receive at least one new addition to the village as the storm passes." She covered me with a blanket and I was curious about her generosity, but knew it was only because I was a priestess too and she could feel my spiritual powers.

Shippo came out of my kimono and the priestess raised her eyebrows, asking silently if I knew that there was a demon inside of my shirt. I clutched my son to my chest and smiled down at his peaceful face. "This is my Kit, Shippo. His family was killed by demons when he was very young and he's been with me ever since. Oh, and I'm Kagome." I felt rude not even telling the woman who took Shippo and me into her home my name from the get-go!

She sat beside me, wrapped in a similar blanket and smiled at the fire. "My name is Nozomi; I am the priestess to this village. I've looked over these people for fifty years now, since my mother died. You and your Kit are welcome here for as long as you desire." It was like there wasn't even question in her goodwill toward me. It was so refreshing to be away from the untrusting eyes of humans scorned by demons or the war. This village was really a blessing. It felt…lighter than the rest of the world, truly unstained by the blood of the innocent and guilty. It was unlike any place on the island.

I blushed, feeling silly for asking what should have been a simple question, but I had to know what this place was. "I'm sorry, but, where exactly is this village?" It was so hard to pinpoint the direction with all of the falling freezing rain and snow.

She stirred the stew in the pot and looked over at me. "You are in the farthest northern village. This storm passes once a year because of an ancient priestess that cursed the lands because of her lover's betrayal. Her heart was scorned by the demon she fell in love with on this very day hundres of years ago, but after the storm passes we are like any other mountain village. When the snow melts by tomorrow night, you will see the forest around us and just how beautiful this place really is."

A priestess fell in love with a demon…I blushed. It could really happen. I found myself gazing into golden eyes and opened my eyes quickly to get away from the fantasies my mind created. Falling in love with a demon should not have made me think of _him_.

She handed Shippo and me a bowl of the meaty soup as I thought to myself, with a smile on her face as she served herself some. "What has you two traveling so far northward alone?"

I smiled into the bowl, tasting the warmth of the stew on my tongue before I answered. "My responsibilities have taken me away from my friends. If I were to stay with them, the child a certain friend cares for would possibly be compromised. So," I sighed as she raised another eyebrow. "I've decided to seek a village where I am needed and I can spend the rest of my life protecting my Kit and the curse bestowed upon me." I touched the jewel and her eyes widened as she saw it beneath my shirt.

"Y-you are the priestess that guards the scared jewel? The incarnate of Kikyo?" She whispered, in awe at how pure the stone was in my hands. Ouch. My heart thudded unevenly at the mention of the woman that took everything from me, but I agreed to tell her the truth. I was not weak, I accepted that Kikyo and Inuyasha shared something I'd never hope to share with him. It made me strong to admit that I accepted them, no matter how much it hurt.

I nodded, "yes, which is why we will be on our way once the snow melts." I sighed, wishing desperately that this journey would end somewhere with a hot spring, but I doubted it.

Nozomi smiled then, setting her bowl down to face me. "You shall stay here, Lady Kagome. There is something about this village that makes it unique, something that my ancestors have tried to keep secret for hundreds of years…you are destined to be here to protect the jewel and the people."

I frowned. Me? "I think you've got the wrong girl," I laughed smiling at her seriousness. There was no way I would be relied upon to protect the jewel in another town just as Kikyo had fifty years ago. I didn't ever expect to be trusted with such a high responsibility.

She shook her head, taking one of my hands in hers. "It's been long foretold that this village remains so untouched because of the Scorned Priestess's magical power held over the lands. I myself came here from a village in the south, beckoned to the safety of this village the same night of the storm with my mother. We traveled long and far because she could feel the energy coming from this place and now in my age, I am able to sense it as well. No matter if you don't believe now, young one. When tomorrow comes, I will prove to you that this is your destiny. Rest. I will wake you when the storm ends.

She smiled then, lied down on the mat opposite me beside the fire, and fell silent. Me, the priestess meant to guard a sacred village? What spiritual power did the village hold? I clutched Shippo tighter. If it was anything like Mount Hakurei, he might be hurt. I worried for the sleeping kit, but the exhaustion from the snow made me weary and I too fell into a deep sleep beside the fire, holding my child to my chest.

* * *

I've searched for many moons, seeking what always seemed to evade me. Her scent would grace my palate and when it felt as though I'd caught up to her, it vanished completely. Kagome had slipped between my fingers and I didn't even know now if she was alive or dead. I lied in my bedchambers, searching the night sky through the hole I made in the ceiling this afternoon. I was lost without her. I hated admitting such weakness, but she was the only weak part of me now.

I carried the only thing she left behind in the well in my hand. A piece of cloth, the red sash she wore around her neck when she dressed so provocatively. I found it the night after I'd gone searching for her and it barely held her scent anymore. I pressed it to my nose and let it fall beside my face on the large sleeping mat. I was foolish enough to let myself fall…_care_, for a human.

This is what it brought me.

Betrayal.

_Worry. _

Endless anger.

_Loneliness. _

I'd never realized how alone I was until she had left. Surely though I had Rin and Jaken bickering through the days to occupy my mind, but with her I was so curious, I wanted to know more than what she was telling me. Her every move interested me – why did she act that way, why did she say what she said, who was she beneath the mask she put up for Inuyasha? A mask that was so much like… I frowned, letting the thought slip from my mind.

Even when she was Inuyasha's wench she'd helped Rin and I several times in battle, and from those moments on I'd been interested in the strange woman that wore the child-sized kimono from another world. She saved me countless times, from attacks that I was too proud to admit were coming for me and I still vow I could have evaded. Now I couldn't even save her from herself, but why did I care if she was safe? She was probably dead now from carrying around that silly bow with a clump of the jewel across her neck, just begging demons to lick it off her skin.

I snarled, sitting up straight at the thought of any other living creature touching her cream and rose colored flesh. My heart beat rapidly, my demon thrashed in the cage I locked him up in, and I felt her warmth leave my body. _Where are you, Miko_?

I was still searching if only to find her and kill her myself for making me like this. I sat up, jumped from the castle, and found my way through the forest, her sash in my hand. Her scent was the only thing in my mind. I shut my eyes as I walked, letting the sweet summer rain of her lavender skin bring me to a memory of her. A memory I didn't even know I had. I stood in a tree, safe from the rain when suddenly she emerged from the well. She cursed the rain…but she did so with a smile. She smiled before running off toward her village, even though the rain had upset her.

Infuriating woman.

I would find her simply because I was interested in how she was masking her scent. It would be here one moment and gone the next. How had she evaded me so successfully? I could smell that her scent had come through here, along with the fox demon Shippo's. They were traveling together. They had passed through my lands, in the air, and I hadn't seen them or heard of their journey being seen by anyone.

"Sesshomaru-sama," a demon ran up to me and his neck was at the tip of my blade before he could even think to blink. Damn fool, running toward a demon when his defenses were lowered. I lowered my blade when I saw my general, sweating and tired from what looked like a long voyage. He was a bear demon, a man that had the strength of a bear but the body of a humanoid. I trusted him with the military and nothing more.

I removed Tokijin from his neck and placed it beside Kagome's untouched sword pulsing beside me. It called for her, it longed to feel her energy. I frowned at the blade, asking the man a question as he stood in front of me. "Have you news of the Miko?"

He shook his head no and I looked away from him, until he found the breath to speak and pique my interest. "But we have found the other demon you seek, Naraku. He's lurking in the Northern lands. We have permission from the human lord of the north to set up camp in his palace. It appears the lord, too, has had an encounter with the hanyou Naraku that he was lucky to escape alive from." The bear demon stared down at me as I weighed the options.

Go kill Naraku today, find Kagome tomorrow…would she even be safe until that tomorrow? I growled. If Kagome thought she was safe on her own she would be. My searches had all been in vain. Who was to say that I would find her tomorrow or a hundred years from now, dead in a grave?

No, that…I had to look away from the man to disguise the anguish across my face. My soul called for her, even the thought of her death made my chest tightened and crack open. _What the hell?_

My hand touched the flesh where my heart began beating wildly. I shut my eyes, feeling the pain spread from my stomach to the tips of my fingers, leaving me frozen and colder than I'd ever felt. I felt despair, darkness, and the desire to kill everyone on the planet until only she and I were left. My general approached, holding a hand out as if to help me, for I looked like I'd been injured. My body cringed and relaxed, froze and thawed, and finally the feeling paralyzed me, crippling me to my knees. I flashed red pools of hatred at him and he backed away.

"Leave me," I snarled, waiting for the demon to be out of earshot before I dropped to my knees. Something drained me, left me shallow and hollow. Kagome, lifeless, her blue eyes turned silver…I turned away from the image, feeling searing pain ripple through my body. I didn't want to see her dead. I didn't want to imagine her lying in her blood on the forest floor – forgotten. I could never forget her. Not now.

_Damn woman!_ It snarled.

"She left to protect my Rin, and me." I could feel myself smiling, a smile graced the lips of the lord of the west for the first time since infancy – and it was placed there by a human woman thinking she was strong enough to protect me.

_Selfish bitch, she is mine. She must never disobey me!_ The cage rattled and thrashed inside of me and I shut my eyes, calming the demon within me.

"She is wiser than any woman of her years." I spoke, feeling the peace of her smile warm my skin. I could feel her lips press against my cheek as they had the night she left me at the well. She spoke but I could feel them moving against me.

"_But still foolish_." We agreed on that, the demon and I, though he was angry and I had never felt more resolve toward peace. Peace. I really was becoming weak. But I still did not need protection from a human Miko. Kagome was foolish to think just by leaving me she was protecting me. Her departure only made me feel more vulnerable than I ever had.

Enough. There were more important things in this world than spending all of my time finding the woman I…_cared _for. Naraku would die by my hands and when he did there would be no reason for Kagome to stray from my side. With the half-breed slain she could protect the jewel within the shrine on the castle grounds until we found a way to rid it from this world. Together.

"Very well," I stood, forgetting the images of horror and replaced them with images of her standing beside me, a white kimono across her shoulders that matched mine as we stood in the moonlight. Keeping the Miko out of my mind kept the crumbling mess inside of me away.

_When had I let her make me so weak?_

_When had I begun to feel…empowered by such weakness?_

I tied the red sash across her blade, letting her lingering scent permeate the air around me. "We shall leave at dawn for the castle of the north. Assemble your men and don't make me wait." He nodded toward me, but I was too focused on my goal to spare him a glace.

Gathering my cloud, I stormed away from the man, leaving orders for Akamai as well to keep Rin well-educated and busy while I was away. Nothing would stand in my way this time. Naraku will die.

…_And Kagome will be returned to me_.

**A/N: **

**:D I dunno what to say here so…**

**Review! :D**

**-Panda-chan**


	9. Winter Flowers

**Chapter Eleven **

**Winter Flowers **

"Mama, mama! Let's go pick the snow flowers!" Shippo bounced on my shoulder, making me smile at his childlike heart. I was hunched over the fields, working quickly to bring the harvest in before the storm I could feel swirling through the air fell across the village.

I nodded, taking him off of his perch and smiled. "Alright, we'll go find some, just give me a few more moments." I was still harvesting the last of the autumn herbs from Lady Nozomi's garden. These herbs could be lifesaving in the winter; I could not let them go bad with the cold. The villagers wouldn't know how to use them if they weren't hung and dried. I smiled around me, looking up at the friendly people walking around the magical village – preparing for the winter.

The healing garden was right beside the home we entered the first night we came to live in this peaceful village, just at the bottom of the hill where the sacred shrine was built overlooking everything. The village was beautiful, as Nozomi had foretold. There were cherry trees surrounding the boundaries, a beautiful flourishing river running through the middle with bridges built over it so the villagers could cross, and the most precious thing was where the river led to: a giant waterfall that hid the secret that this village protected. That I, too, protected now. I glanced up at the sky, looking toward the bright white haze only to be seen by the priestesses with the skill to put it there.

After Nozomi took Shippo and me in, she began to train me in the arts of becoming a powerful shrine Miko like she was and she showed me everything, even an absolutely perfect hot springs not far from the main river. Nozomi had learned the deep magic from her mother and when I was ready she passed it on to me, saying I had unusually strong spiritual powers, but combined with hers they would be infallible. Little did I know at the time she was training what would soon be her replacement so she could rest in peace on the other side.

The village here was indeed sacred and needed watching over, and after coming to trust the woman who trained me, I agreed to stay here and live out my life protecting it – away from Inuyasha, away from...everyone. There was a secret to this place that the overlooking priestess and villagers only know about, but the demons that flew over us in these high mountains only sought to destroy the purity around this place. They found, though, as all unwelcome demons had, that they could not pass through the village without being purified themselves. I'd seen in once before, when a high level demon faced Nozomi and my arrows, but didn't even come close to us.

But, I glanced at my Shippo as he played with the village children; demons who were _welcome_ here felt no pain. That was the curse of the first priestess that gave her heart to a demon lord. I shut my eyes as the scent of jasmine ran through the cold breeze, sending sadness into my heart. I saw his face, his golden eyes that saw everything.

"_He was a demon, unlike every other demon. He had a heart, a soul. He loved," _I repeated the silly phrase that Nozomi had shared in a story of old and giggled. The two demon men I knew were pretty much the opposite of that: one didn't trust anyone with anything except one woman that touched him long ago and the other just hated everything. Hakura really was a lucky woman to find a demon man that loved her so and trusted her.

I smiled at the nonsensical way of seeing things. My still closed eyes remembered the old sage repeating the tales of her childhood to me, because I was the one to pass them down now.

"She welcomed him into the village after he'd been injured in the great battles that took place over territory and when he saw her he simply couldn't leave. The village was named after the very same great Hakura, the woman that created the barrier that kept all unwanted demons away. They could not smell the village, they could not see the village, and they could not enter the village. The only responsibility of the acting priestess was to protect the barrier and the shrine where the sacred jewel had been safe for so long before it was stolen and Kikyo had ever taken possession of it. It was a rather easy job, you can imagine, with a barrier that was strong enough to purify any evil that lurked in the souls of human or demon."

It was, even though there were times when I was playing outside of the barrier with Shippo and the village children that I had to use my scared arrows. Since my training began I noticed that my energy formed before I even shot the arrow and purified on contact – usually followed by a pretty loud and unnecessary explosion. Embarrassingly enough.

I sighed and remembered the days she spend training me, 'tsking' under her breath at my stances which were way off, sighing at how I didn't know how to unleash any power willingly. Looking back it was kind of silly to see myself so helpless. I was nothing like that now, if anything…I was more like Kikyo. I wasn't cold, though, like she had become. I smiled often and played in the flowers because I was still me, just different. Stronger.

It had only been a few months since Nozomi passed and I could still feel her in the wind, telling me to not pick those yet, asking me why I hadn't been out in the field to play with Shippo. I missed her kindness and wisdom. I felt like there was still so much to learn but she just smiled up at me the night of her passing and said "_You are stronger than any other priestess that has looked over the people. You know everything already, Kagome. You just need to awaken your true self and the magic will flow through you. I believe in you._"

"You will not be forgotten, my Lady." I whispered, looking to where she lied peacefully among the shrine – beside her mother. They found peace in life and death all because of this place. I hoped to find some inside of myself someday.

My heart still ached. My eyes still watered as I saw Inuyasha smiling down at her instead of me. My heart still throbbed for him and I doubted it would ever stop, but there was another man that always made my stomach flop in sadness. He was like the air, always there even though I never noticed, but I felt like I always need him to be. His golden eyes were always so cold but I saw fear there, fear of letting anyone in because he had been hurt before. _Of course_, I smirked, _he'd never admit it to himself cause he's so damn proud_.

After hanging all of the winter stock, I went out of my hut to find my Shippo. We had been here since the beginning of summer and it was now the start of winter. Five months had passed and felt like no time at all, but I deeply missed everyone. Sango, who was so much like my sister. I left without even saying goodbye to her and Miroku because if I had they would have stopped me. I glared at the sky, a bead of sweat dripping down my face. _Or they would have made Sesshomaru stop me. _

"I'll see them again one day," I promised myself with a smile. I knew I would, whether it was in another life or in this one. "Shippo, my love?" I called out, knowing the Kitsune wasn't far behind me anyway. I could sense his childlike aura anywhere and as he jumped up on my shoulder I took him into my arms, kissing his forehead.

"Lady Kagome," the villagers smiled as they passed and I nodded toward them kindly. They all called me Lady now, like I was some sort of big deal. I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.

"Kenji," I called out toward the man that led the village "army". They were mercenaries that only answered to the acting Miko because that was their job: to protect the village when I was away. He nodded toward me and came forward, asking what it was that I needed. "I will be leaving the village for a short while. Shippo wants to collect some winter flowers and we do need them before the cold comes. They have healing powers that help cure burns." He knew just how useful that was in the winter when the children got too close to the fire pits seeking warmth.

"Very well, Lady Kagome. We will watch for any attacks," he bowed his head and I did the same, smiling at the older man kindly. They were nice men, lived with their families here, and swore to keep the village safe at all costs. I trusted them.

"Now," I asked my Kit. "Where are these winter flowers you've seen?" I really hoped they weren't far. The village masked my scent but when we left it I was left bare, naked to any demon seeking me. Good or bad. Now that I could watch after myself in any attack it wasn't such a risk, but if there were more than I could handle I didn't know what we'd do.

He grinned, licking a lollipop from my secret backpack stash. "Just at the tree line, barely outside of the village, mama. We should be safe there," he nodded as he jumped off my shoulder and hopped over to where he'd seen them from inside the barrier.

The flower was bright red and black, dripping with a sweet scent that made my heart melt to dry them. They smelled like Christmas back at home through the well and reminded me of all the winters spent with my family. Just as I reached for one, something pulled at the strings of my senses, telling me there was danger. In an almost instantaneous movement, I stood in front of Shippo with my bow raised at the neck of the demon that had intruded.

He was across the field, his hands raised as he saw me with wide eyes. "What do you seek here, demon?" I asked and my voice was as cold as ice. A thing I had picked up, and mastered, from a certain corpse and a demon lord.

"I seek nothing from humans, Miko," he assured me. "I am simply scouting for provisions for my men," My eyes widened. There were more of them? _Crap._

"Men?" I asked, my voice taking on a bored, curious tone.

He nodded, his hands still raised as my arrow was aimed in perfect time with his head. "Y-yes! We are planning and attack on a demon castle that holds a hanyou known to terrorize the lands! I am from the western lands-"

"Under the command of the demon lord, Sesshomaru?" I wondered, knowing that was exactly the case. His armor mirrored the demon lords in style and his aura was clean but impure because of his demon blood – just like Sesshomaru's was. He would not harm people if they did not harm him first, that much I knew.

He seemed surprised that I knew the man and nodded fearfully. "Yes, we are headed through his mountain pass just beyond the forest there," he nodded in my direction. "Sesshomaru-sama leads us."

Get back in the barrier, get back in the barrier, get back in the barrier! "Very well. Continue on, but if you harm any villages nearby I will personally see to your death and any that follow you." I warned, chilling the demon's blood before he nodded and backed away from me slowly. I did not lower my weapon until I could no longer feel his aura, and when I did, I grabbed the flowers and booked it for the barrier, carrying Shippo in my arms as I panted.

"Damn it all!" I whispered, finding myself safe within the protection of the barrier again, but not without consequence. Sesshomaru would smell me on that man, however faint my aroma was, and he would come looking for me. "He can't find me," I whispered, finding tears in my eyes. I didn't want him to find me.

Shippo touched my face with a soft whimper in his throat. "Don't worry mama, Sesshomaru-sama won't find us as long as we stay in here until the army passes." I knew he was right and I nodded, hiding my true fears from my Kit. I ran back toward the village, leaving the meadow but his golden eyes haunted me.

_What if the barrier doesn't work…because of how I feel?_

* * *

"My lord!" My head turned at the sound of my general running toward me, panting in fear. What had frightened a ten foot tall demon bear into shivering and sweating? The sight was something to behold, I gave him that much.

I stepped away from the other men, my eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

"I was looking for provisions like you asked, Sesshomaru-sama, but I was caught off guard. There is a string of villages not far from here-"

"What of it? Are you this frightened over human villages, Ginbosu?"

He shook his head, bowing toward me. "N-not the villages, Sesshomaru-sama, the woman protecting the villages! She's a Miko," my eyes widened and he had my attention now. "With the greatest spiritual power I've ever felt! She could have purified me just by glancing at me a certain way, just being in her presence made me feel weak!" The other men looked around themselves, wondering if there was such a woman to behold.

"Was she a sage?" I wondered, glaring down at the demon as he shared her with the entire camp. She had to be, if she possessed that level of power.

"She was," he sighed and shut his eyes with a smile. "The most beautiful Miko I have ever laid my eyes on! More beautiful than any demon woman I've ever seen. She was young, with hair to her waist, a pretty face and a body that could rival that of a goddess, not to mention some shapely assets!" He growled, gesturing with his hands and getting a roar of approval from the men, but I felt myself lose hope.

That was nothing like her. She was...

I shut my eyes and saw her blue ones staring up at me, trusting and warm. My hands ran through her black hair as she slept, taking in the silky texture for myself. She was unlike anything of this world. "Let's move on," I barked, getting their attention as I walked away from the villages he spoke of.

"Sire," a serpent demon hissed at me as the men boasted about Ginbosu's encounter with the woman. "Are you quite certain we should leave such a powerful priestess alive? She could surely exterminate us all, if she had the desire to."

I stopped and stared at the man, pondering such nonsense. "I doubt she could exterminate an army of three hundred demons," I glared down at the coward. "Are you afraid of humans now, too?"

He grew silent and unfortunately I had to listen to the men talk about what they would do to such an innocent woman. Ginbosu laughed as one of his comrades wondered why he didn't just take her there. Disgusting, vile demons – they were the reason I always went on missions like this alone. They had all talked of making her scream, then promptly killing her.

"Well," he sighed, "she was protecting a child. Foolish, if you ask me, but I could never do that to a woman while a child watched." They all rolled their eyes and jostled him about being a coward and other names one didn't use in civilized conversation.

I let my own eyes shut closed and let their voices scatter from my mind. All I could hear was the sound of her laughter, the smile that graced her lips. Then, I stopped in my tracks as I caught the slightest scent of lavender and fresh mint, mingled with strawberry and watermelon, coming from the man that boasted right behind me. I turned on him, my eyes glaring red, and grabbed him by the neck.

"Where did you see the Miko?"

He frowned, shaking his head to clear it and pointed. "Beyond the forest, not even a five minute journey if you're running like I was. Why," he smirked, "do you intend to put our desires to purpose?" They all laughed and I snarled, silencing their thoughts and tongues with the venom in my voice.

I threw the general off a cliff to the right of me and glared all the rest of the army. "Set camp here for the night. Do not move from this spot and if any of you come after me consider yourselves dead."

Before anything was said I was gone, leaving them behind as I charged through the trees, after the scent of Ginbosu, and found myself in a green meadow. The grass was dying, and the trees were losing their leaves, but there was a patch of winter flowers on the other side. I moved over to the place where the Miko stood firmly, stronger than I'd ever felt her before, and right beside the flowers was a clear trail of lavender blossoms in a summer breeze. There was indeed a string of villages outside of the meadow, and many humans, but Kagome was not among them.

No her scent, went in the opposite direction, toward the snow-covered mountain. I followed the scent, getting closer and closer to her, feeling the way her heart pumped as she ran from Ginbosu. I could taste her skin; taste the tears in her eyes that were put there by the demon man, until I stopped dead. There was a mountain where her scent ended, not a trail or stream, but a giant mountain. It belonged to the great Mountains of the North, and no human could have scaled it in such little time. Not even a Miko of extraordinary power.

"Kagome," I found myself speaking her name as my eyes shut and my fingers touched the warm stone in wonder. I pressed my face to the warmth, her warmth, and sighed as I lost myself to her scent.

Once again she had slipped between my fingers.

**A/N: **

**Aw. Sesshomaru. **

**Anyway, so you see? The village she went to is special because it is hidden from unwanted demons and since Kagome doesn't wanna be found… It'll all be explained later, don't worry. :P **

**Review :)**

**-Panda!**


	10. Found

**Chapter Twelve**

**Found **

I could _feel_ him. I touched the barrier, not seeing anything on the outside, but I could feel his warmth – the same warmth I felt when we slept beside each other. I could taste his honey and jasmine scent on my tongue. I pressed my face into the barrier, sighing at the peace it brought me. Why was this spot so peaceful? Why did I feel him, but I saw nothing? The wind whispered my name, licking my cheeks with heat and I paused as Shippo and I headed back toward the village. I looked at the barrier, seeing the giant mountain like all the other demons would, and ran my hand across the glassy texture.

I couldn't help my voice. It spoke, so softly I almost didn't hear it.

"I miss you."

_I don't!_

"I miss how warm you are."

_How could I miss a heart of ice?_

"It doesn't trust, it's not made of ice."

_He's tried to kill you; he'd do it again if he had the chance!_

"…I don't believe that."

_He doesn't care about you. _

"So what?" I whispered, feeling my heart sink as my inner voice tried to dissuade me from what I knew I already felt.

"I care about him."

_Do you want to end up alone when he betrays you? _

"He won't," I reasoned, feeling my resolve waiver. How did I know that?

_He will betray you just like Inuyasha did for Kik-_

"Stop," I begged, feeling tears soak my eyes. I wouldn't let myself fall in love again, especially not with someone who wanted me dead and hated me above all things. I would not let myself be hurt by a man that didn't want anything to do with me in the first place.

I touched the barrier, feeling…_his_…warmth soak through my skin and heat me to the core. I sighed and pressed my face into it, feeling at home for the first time since I fell down the well into this time five months ago, but I knew he didn't seek me anymore. Even if he did he would never find me and I would keep it that way. I couldn't let him see me again. I wouldn't hurt myself and I wouldn't see him thrust into danger just because he felt pity for me. I knew that was why he offered to train me, out of pity. It made my eyes water and my lips pucker into a thin line unattractively. He felt pity because his brother left me alone in this world – defenseless. The least he could do was teach me to defend myself before he left me, too. He hated humans, why would I be the exception?

He didn't care.

"Evil and the unwanted see a giant, unshakeable mountain with treacherous peaks and snow, but good and the accepted see a path leading right to where I stand, into the safety of Hakura." I whispered, knowing that was the reason he couldn't see me and I couldn't see him if he was even there. He was…unwanted.

I could feel something tugging at my barrier; something begging me to bring it down with a sadness to be reckoned with, but a very familiar man from the village caught my attention instead. He was running toward me, waiving his purification staff to get my attention. "Lady Kagome!" He called, running to me hurriedly. I saw he looked pained, his face in a state of utter terror and shock and I grabbed my bow tightly in my hands.

"What is it? What's happened?" I demanded, running along with him back toward the village. Had something broken through? Was something threatening to? I touched the jewel between my breasts, feeling the purity soothe me, and glanced back over at the sweaty man with determination.

"It's my wife, Lady Kagome," he panted and I frowned. "She's having the baby right now!"

Oh how I could smile from relief. This was the part of being a priestess that I didn't mind, the part where I helped families grow. I grinned at the man and slowed my pace, shaking my head at him. "She will be fine. Allow me to gather some herbs and I will be there to birth the child," I smiled down at the nervous dad to be and almost rolled my eyes at how relieved he looked.

The woman was known to me, as much of the village was, but this woman reminded me so much of Sango and the man of Miroku. The man, Tetsuo, was a monk at the temple and worked closely with me, and his wife, Amaya, owned the tea shop in town. She was sweet and very beautiful – the kind of woman Miroku would have been all over, too.

I gathered herbs that would let her slip away from the pain and headed toward the hut that her family surrounded worriedly. I smiled at the gathering and they let me pass. The door swung open and I smiling reassuringly down at her as she panted and turned toward her husband. "Tetsuo," I shooed him from the hut. "Only women, please." I could see the smile on her face as I made Shippo leave too, and was only assisted by some of the other women that dedicated themselves to helping her before I arrived. I placed boiled herbs in her mouth, telling her to chew them as I placed myself before her.

"Okay, Amaya," I looked seriously at the red-faced woman. "You need to push as hard as you can, the baby is almost here!" She looked relieved because of the mind-altering herbs, but nodded and sat up higher with the help of another woman behind her.

I smiled as the woman screamed louder than she had before and the baby fell into the towel in my hands. He was perfect, screaming as he opened his eyes for the first time, and I held him up to her. "It's a boy," I whispered, handing her the child as I went to soothe her sore muscles with more herbs.

"Tetsuo," I beckoned the father, who had paced a very noticeable rut in the ground between the relatives. "Come meet your son." I smiled when his eyes widened and I stepped away from the door as he walked through it like he saw nothing but the woman lying on the birthing mat, holding a bundle of crying joy. His legacy would continue, his son would become a monk, his son after that and so on.

And my work was done. I walked away as the man rejoiced; taking the boy into his arms, and shut my eyes on the way to my hut. I would never see a man smile for me like that. I would never hold a child born of me and my love in my arms. My life, I stared up at the sacred shrine and smiled with sadness, was this and it would be this until I too, perished. "Mama?" Shippo wondered as he crawled up onto my shoulder. He saw my eyes had shut and I was walking back to the home we lived in by memory and feeling.

"Yes?"

"Why are you so sad?"

I glared over at him, smirking as I caught him by the tail when he tried to flee, and tickled him in the circle of my arms. "How could I ever be sad with such a child in my arms?" I joked, tickling him until he jumped away, giggling under his breath as he went back to play with the village children. I watched and put my mask back on, falling into place again.

Shippo didn't need to bare my burdens.

* * *

As soon as her warmth had come, it was gone, and I was left cold. She was no longer close to me, but she had been. Kagome was here, in the north, hiding behind some sort of protection that was unseen to me. I snarled, clawing at the mountain only to find it was just as strong as any other mountain on this island. If not stronger. The rock had dented from my attempts, but I felt as though they were in vain. I looked down at my claws, frowning. Perhaps I was wrong about where her scent lie. Perhaps this was desperation getting to me, and I smelled things that were not truly there. _No_, I looked up the mountain and back down to the dying grass, _she is not here_. I grasped her red sash and pressed it to my nose, finding the scent almost spent, but it lingered.

"I've failed you again."

I returned to my men, who I found around various fires throughout the valley, and sat beside Ginbosu, the demon I threw off a cliff earlier today for talking about the Miko that way. "Apologies, General," I offered to him as I sat beside the fires. "But I saw nothing at the meadow you spoke of. There was no woman or child. Let us stay focused on the task of defeating Naraku and nothing more. I will hear no more talk of imaginary priestesses."

That was my last word on it but as I leapt away from the soldiers to find more comfortable placement below a forest tree, they spoke lowly amongst themselves. They worried like old women about me. "I've never seen Sesshomaru-sama distraught before. Why get so worked up over one priestess that probably didn't even exist anyway?" The snake hissed at the bear demon, taunting him as serpents always did to higher beings.

I shut my eyes and listened in as Ginbosu sighed and looked around the curious men below me. "Sesshomaru-sama seeks only one thing in this world," the bear tried to whisper, but I could hear him speak of her as clear as I could see the setting day around us. "A human Miko that evaded him to keep the child Rin safe from the demon we hunt now. She was a shrine maiden, protector of the Sacred Jewel, and I believe that Sesshomaru-sama fell in lo-"

He was silenced by a rock connecting with his face, a rock I promptly threw from the shadows with all of my strength. "Nonsense," I growled, speaking to all of the higher military men around the fire. "We are moving out of this pass immediately. I will hear no more talk of that woman or emotions that I do not possess." I was snarling at the bear demon who just shrugged, knowing I would not slay him.

Yet.

I turned and unsheathed Tokijin, cutting off the snake's head before he came back to bite me at a later time. I never trusted a serpent, even one as advanced as that one had been. "Anyone to speak of her again will meet the same fate," I spoke evenly to the stunned men behind me and continued on down the pass.

They were quick to follow.

I could smell his stench: the stench of a half-demon covering his tracks by devouring lesser beings. It was so masked by the odor of other demons that it was almost invisible to regular youkai. It was the castle of the north, the very one that held the human masters of these lands – I assumed they were long since dead. So, he had been hiding here all this time, rebuilding himself from the last attack in which Kagome, Inuyasha and I nearly sent him to the netherworld. "I will not fail this time," I spoke with such reverence that the men beside me smirked in anticipation. They would spill the lower demon's blood while I went after the hanyou lurking beyond the shadows of this palace.

The front gate was blown away by one single stroke of my blade, leaving the palace guards running for cover and weapons. They were all youkai, demons that just by being of pure blood were of more worth than the pathetic half-breed they followed. "I shall leave them to you, Ginbosu," I gave the eager bear a sideways glance. "But Naraku will die this night by my hand."

He nodded in agreement, yelling as the warriors charged, and I walked through the battlefield, watching blood splatter across my own armor as my men defended me until I reached the door of the palace. I could smell him and his reincarnations inside. Much further away than this door, and deeper within the mansion he was still healing himself. I raised Tokijin to purpose, creating demonic energy that left the entirety of the battle in the light of it, and swung at the palace that was once held so highly in the demon world. I should have expected the wench of the wind to retaliate. "Sesshomaru, what a nice surprise," she chuckled, standing in front of me as though she was worthy of my rage. "What brings you, did you miss me?"

"Step aside, woman." I commanded, making her eyes widen at my tone. "I will not hesitate this time and I will kill you where you stand. I can smell that worthless hanyou breeding within these walls and I've come to see the end of it. Stand aside," I barked again, nursing blood red eyes and a snarl on my transforming face.

For the first time since I knew this wench, she showed fear on her face. "Fuck this," she grasped as I swiped at her in warning, my claws dripping with deadly poison. "I won't die for this." She plucked a feather from her hair and sailed above the battle, waving her fan on the warring demons below. Smart woman, I commended. She would not die for a hanyou, either.

I could smell the foul stench of death and blood all across the battlefield, but it paled in comparison to the stench of Naraku's regenerating flesh in the temple before me. As expected of the showy half-breed, be burst from the hut in a sea of tentacles that came right at me. "You've become so predictable, Naraku," I snarled, slashing at the pestering waves. They dissipated around me, leaving him exposed to my blade with a smirk on his face. There was a barrier around his floating torso. That was all that was left of the demon that was so feared these past fifty years? I glared down at his smug expression in disappointment. He would hardly be an opponent.

"Sesshomaru, you've finally come." I narrowed my eyes. Another Naraku speech of all the things he planned to do in his battle for the sacred jewel. I grew tired of such things. "Ah, and you are not alone," he smirked, getting my attention to the smell of another hanyou I despised. Why was he following in suit?

"Inuyasha," Naraku smirked as Tessaiga hung beside me. "One big happy family-" he stopped speaking when he saw the dead woman and his eyes widened, giving me my chance. I did not care what Naraku's connection was toward that dead woman, I slashed at the barrier, colliding with it as Naraku glared up at me and turned back to where Inuyasha stood in front of his wench. The woman he left Kagome for. My eyes were red as I snarled at the hanyou for his crimes against the warmth of the lost Miko, and I turned my attention back to the creature holding off my attacks. I snarled at him as anger boiled in my chest.

"Fool," he chuckled and pushed me back beside Inuyasha and the graveyard woman. "This barrier cannot be broken by any sword. Not even yours, Inuyasha. It's something I picked up from the mainland after killing the emperor of the land, and nothing will penetrate it." He'd stooped so low as to take influence from the mainland. Weakness.

Just as he spoke a powerful sacred arrow flew through the air, piercing through the barrier easily, but it did not come in contact with anything. The arrow, glowing bright pink in the light, turned menacing black and fired back at the woman who Inuyasha stepped in front of to protect. The arrow bounced off him, as it would have any demon, but he was shouting off profanities like a half-wit for Naraku attacking his beloved corpse. Fool.

This was my battle. "Shut up, Inuyasha." I commanded, standing in front of Naraku once again: Inuyasha would not be the one to defeat this demon. I would slay him, if only to watch _her_ live a peaceful life without any worry from him any longer – even if I was not a part of it. That was when I caught the scent, the scent that was so much like his stench, but different. Different like every other creation spawned from his body. I'd been fooled. I put my sword away, and glared at the manifestation of energy in front of me. "It is not the real Naraku, smell him you half-breed."

The puppet glared as if I'd disrupted his performance. "Hmm, you are clever, big brother." It taunted me uselessly. Clearly Naraku underestimated me. "I've lured you here with my scent only so I could devour you and bring you back to where my master is – safely hidden from the world. He desires your power, Sesshomaru. Inuyasha, you showing up was pure coincidence, but I will take that demon blade you hold so dear, half-breed, while I devour you and the demon lord of the west!"

The demon moved to claim us, but I would have none of it. This lowly being wasn't going to touch me – I'd rather cut off my other arm before his deprived leech touched me.

I had been fooled by false reports and scents of Naraku, which only led me to a false trail of Kagome – not far from where I stood now. I was losing this battle already, as I had been tricked by a demon even lower than the graveyard woman behind me. "I am in no mood for games," I growled, jumping up to where the woman of the wind sat perched above us, and grabbed her in her astounded stupor.

I reached into her kimono, my skin crawling as I touched her flesh, and to her stunned surprise I pulled out the demon puppet, seething it into millions of fragments with the poison in my hand. The imitation snarled and thrashed against the pain and with a blinding white light faded away into the night. It left behind the scent of its master – a single piece of cloth from the baboon costume he wore.

My attention gravitated to the woman who was trying to escape me. "Where is he?" I asked the woman as my hand wrapped around her neck. I pressed into her, pulling her to the ground, and hovered above her as she gasped for breath. My claws dug into her flesh, leaving poison that was unable to heal in her blood as she screamed for me to stop. She thrashed below me, pressing her body against mine in a way that would tempt any demon that hadn't felt the warmth of the Miko from beyond the well, and I ignored her attempts to flee my grasp with seduction or violence.

"Se-Sesshomaru! Please, stop! I don't know where he is!" She pleaded, feeling her own body go weak as the effects of the poison took over. She was not defenseless and if she had no information she was also useless to me. She was clawing at my flesh, snarling at me with everything left inside of her, but with one swift motion of my hand, her head lie beside her body. However, I knew that was not enough from my many encounters with _her_ kind. I let my poison drip over her flesh, setting it ablaze with green flame, and I turned to see Inuyasha and Kagome's companions staring at me in horror.

I had just killed a woman in cold blood in their minds. Had they no knowledge of what this woman had done to Kagome, what she had done to every single one of them? Yet they still felt remorse for her passing, how pathetic. "If you are angered, attack. I encourage you to; my anger has not yet left me." I felt myself staring at the angry eyes of my half-brother and he shook his head.

"What you did was just, Sesshomaru. None of us will argue with that," he glanced over at the group and they descended closer to me. "Have you seen any signs of Kagome?" The demon slayer asked while Inuyasha went over to make sure the woman he betrayed Kagome for was safely in his arms again. I wanted to puke my poison all over them.

I shook my head, even disappointing myself. "I caught a fresh trail of her this afternoon," I began and their eyes widened. "But I am afraid my senses have been fooled too many times to believe it was really her. The scent vanished over the northern mountains: no human would be able to climb them in the time it took for me to follow the trail," I was speaking mostly to myself now, but the monk and slayer stared at me curiously.

"Sesshomaru," the slayer asked a second time. "We all know you to be the mighty demon that rules most of these lands, I doubt that you could be fooled a second time."

Flattery from a woman that killed demons, that had to be a first. I narrowed my eyes as her cheeks flushed pink, but the monk took my away from her avoided gaze. "Yes," the monk answered in my place while looking toward the mountains that lie behind us. Could he feel her, too? "You say she vanished into the mountain?"

I placed my sword back beside the black blade that still pulsed for her and gave no feeling toward the man. "That is the only explanation that makes sense," I concluded, sensing there was something he hadn't told me from the way his pensive gaze scanned the countryside.

He looked me directly in the eye, gesturing toward the path that my demons stood on among Naraku's corpses. "Take me to where you last sensed her. I think I know what's going on."

I could see from the worry on both of their faces that they truly cared for the girl, unlike the hanyou and his bitch. I glared at the couple, who were sitting in each other's arms, plotting their revenge on the demon that separated them all of those years ago, and turned to the monk with expressionless eyes. "Very well."

If the monk led me to her, I wouldn't say he could stop me from murdering her where she stood before bringing her back to life. I led the pack, leaving Inuyasha and the corpse trailing behind slowly, and found myself regain hope for the Miko that made my heart stop beating in my chest whenever I thought of her simple smile.

* * *

"Shippo," I beckoned as the sun began to set in the west. "It's time for dinner!" I began cooking his favorite stew, the same recipe we had the night that Nozomi saved us from the cold, this afternoon in hopes that it would soothe my soul as it had that night. My mind was troubled and my heart ached for what…I didn't know.

I didn't know what I ached for anymore. When I saw Inuyasha in my mind of course I felt pain. I was in pain because he kissed my lips and told me he loved me, but not hours later did the same thing to Kikyo. But the pain paled in comparison to what I felt when I thought of…"Sesshomaru." I forced myself to say his name and my heart seared with fire and embarrassment. When had I become this way? When had I felt less pain in betrayal and more pain in not knowing what could have been meant to be? Why…had I ever considered that? Shippo charged into the hut then, holding up a bowl with a pleading look on his face. I smiled, masking my blush, and served him some. I gave away to his sweet smile as he sat beside me and ate.

I sipped at the soup appreciatively of my own work, and felt something tug at the barrier again, but come through with ease. "What's that?" I asked, feeling something come through the mountain. Shippo's eyebrow raised and he sniffed the air. "Travelers," I whispered to Shippo, winking as I nudged him and he sipped at his soup again, unconcerned. If Shippo was unconcerned, it meant I was safe to go out and greet them, but I didn't like the smirk on his fox lips as he sifted through the air with his powerful demon nose.

I moved the bamboo shutter anyway, smiling up at the face of the traveler as I offered them a bowl of stew. My eyes widened and the wooden bowl slipped from my fingers as I stared into deep brown eyes, full of wonder and mixed with worry. They were eyes I knew all too well and I took a step back, stumbling over his name as he pulled me into a tight hug. "M-Miroku?"

**A/N:**

**Of course Miroku knows of one of the most sacred villages in japan! Oooo I'm excited n_n**

**Review **

**-Panda**


	11. In The Breeze

**Chapter Thirteen **

**In The Breeze**

As soon as I was enveloped into that giant hug I felt the sturdy, dull throb of something hitting my head, knocking me backwards. When my thoughts came forward again, and I rubbed a gigantic bump on my head, I knew exactly where it came from, and exactly how the lecherous Monk felt every time he copped a feel. "Ow!" I complained. "What the hell was that for?" I barked at Sango, watching as the woman slung Hiraikotsu behind her back again. She glared at me, making Miroku smile like an idiot, and hugged me even tighter than he had.

"Higurashi! How could you do that to me? Do you know how worried we've all been? I've been out looking for you for months, Inuyasha and Kikyo have even come along, and not to mention how angry you've made Sess-" I stopped at that very moment, silencing her scolding at the mention of _his _name and she gathered me closer. I could hear tears tug at her voice and that was all the more reason to stop talking about it. I didn't want to hear about Inuyasha's betrayal or how he was forced to come with his corpse to find me because of his nose. I especially didn't want to hear _his _name off of her tongue because I knew my body would burst into flame and my heart would start pounding in my ears. So I hugged her back, resting my head on her shoulder to comfort something inside of myself, too. I missed her so much.

My eyes met hers and she was so confused, I smiled at looked at the ground. They took in my attire then, examining every part of me that had changed since I stopped going through the well. "I can explain why I have done this thing, Sango, because this was the right decision – _is_ the right decision. Please, come inside, the villagers don't need to see the woman that is meant to protect them in tears," I smiled at the duo and their eyes widened but they followed in suit.

They walked into my hut, seeing the dried herbs hanging from the ceiling, the firepot in the center of the room home to a cauldron of stew for my Shippo, who was currently cuddling up on Sango and Kilala, and finally the mat that I slept on – stuffed with cotton I'd brought from my time. Like I was really going to sleep on the floor after sixteen years of a bed? Right. There were other decorations around the small home, mostly things from my time that meant something to me, but as I turned around and sat opposite them beside the fire, I saw sadness on both of their faces.

They wanted an explanation as to why I abandoned them and kidnapped the Kitsune sitting beside me.

"I've done this because it is for the good of everyone involved," I began and Sango scoffed in the back of her throat. "If you don't think so, tell me, when was the last time the Village was attacked?" I questioned, sipping at my cooling bowl of soup as they both fished around for words with their mouths open.

No answer came, but she shook her head with a creased brow and slammed her fist into the wooden floor angrily. "That's not the point, what you did was beyond selfish-"

"Of course it's the point, Sango, and if it's not a good enough one for you, how many demons have been in the village lately? How many times has Lady Kaede been injured because she was defending herself and the village against a demon that was after me," I pulled the nearly complete jewel from my breast and glared at the people I would call my brother and sister in another life. "A demon that was after this?" They stared wide eyed at the purity of the jewel, but said nothing because they knew I was right. _I_ knew I was right, I knew there was no way that they could tell me leaving the village had been a bad thing except that it kept me away from them.

Inuyasha was right. I was just the woman that protected the jewel, nothing more and definitely nothing special_. Shard detector._

Pushing away Inuyasha's final words to me, I looked down at the purple orb that contained no ill will. "And what better place," I smirked at Miroku who I suspected knew exactly what this place was, "to bring the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls to than a village that is undetected by evil? You say I'm selfish in my actions and perhaps I was because I didn't tell you, but would you have let me gone off on my own if you knew?" It was my turn for some answers.

"No," Miroku spoke up as Sango blushed and sat their furiously. "We certainly would not have let you leave, Lady Kagome." My eyes widened at the title he bestowed upon me and I felt myself looking away from his eyes in embarrassment. He could sense me.

"Lady Kagome?" Sango snorted, rolling her eyes at the monk with a laugh. "What do you think you're plotting, lecher?"

He shook his head and shut his eyes peacefully as he stared at Sango. I knew the peace he felt was coming from me, from the shrine I set myself out to purify. She felt it too suddenly, her eyebrows creasing as the monk responded. "I am not planning anything, Sango. I don't know if you can sense it, but the spiritual power coming from Kagome is extraordinary – absolutely purifying of anything that is unwelcome to this place. You've been training with the priestess Nozomi, haven't you?" He looked up at me, his eyes swimming in wonder.

"H-Hai," I responded, remembering the beautiful woman that taught me everything I knew now. How the hell did the lecher know her? I doubted he would go for old women, but maybe I was wrong. "She passed away two months ago and is buried beside her mother at the shrine. Lady Nozomi taught me how to use the sacred powers, and how to perfect my abilities, so not all was a loss, Sango." I smiled at the woman I called a sister and she sighed deeply, understandingly. At least now if I did have to leave the village I could defend myself.

Miroku surprised me then, offering a prayer for her spirit. When he saw Sango and me staring at him, he smiled fondly at both of us. "She was the woman my father fell in love with when he came here to try and find a way to end the Kazaana's curse. He left her behind because of her responsibility, but also because she told him she would follow him into the void when it took him over, and he didn't ever want to see her die. He loved her so very deeply, I considered her closer than the woman that birthed me. I met her in my childhood when we stayed in this village, so when Sesshomaru told us that you vanished into a mountain, I knew exactly where you'd gone."

Blushing, I looked at the trail beyond the door that flailed and swung in the afternoon wind. The orange sun was setting and they didn't seem to notice how red my face was. The warmth…the taste of him…he was there this afternoon when I could taste his scent and feel him under my skin! He was here now, too. I could feel him pushing against my barrier, begging to see me again. Sesshomaru was still seeking me, after all this time; he still wanted to see my face? He still…I blushed thinking of the feeling that embraced me at the barrier.

He still wanted to see me, well, more like he still wanted to kill me. If he found me now I could imagine those red eyes as he dripped poison into my body and bit my head off. I sighed, a bead of sweat gathering on my cheek.

"Tell him to leave," I whispered, looking away from the two as their mouths popped open. "I-I don't want to see him."

_You're such a liar! _

"If he comes here he'll kill me and just bring me back to life to kill me again." Miroku smirked at me for suggesting what he was, inevitably, thinking as well. I was arguing with them both now – the couple in front of me and my inner voice.

_Doubtful, if he comes here how much you wanna bet he misses you as much as you miss him?_

I'd bet my entire life and soul on that one, self.

_Idiot. _

Egotist.

"I dunno, Kagome," Sango shrugged snapping me out of it. "He seems pretty determined to find you alive."

I snorted with and eye roll. "Only so he can kill me himself for disobeying him like I did." I huffed out, hating my very own existence for doing such a thing. Might have been smarter not to anger the demon lord of the west, right? But he also had no claim on my life either! Why did he still want me to conform to his desires, it had been almost half a year!

"Disobeying him?" They almost sang the word with disapproval in unison and I smirked, forgetting I left before saying anything to anyone about that night except Sesshomaru.

It wasn't a long story and they might as well be told my reasons for infuriating a demon that could kill me with his pinkie if he had the mind to. "When Sesshomaru-sama spent the night with me-"

"He spent the night with you?"

"Again, with the synchronization you guys? Really, that sounds a lot worse than what it actually was, but yeah. He came to my house with me beyond the well because I kinda pulled him in. That night we were laying my bed-"

"He slept with you? What else, don't tell me, you're pregnant with his child?" Miroku gaped, and I could see the gears running in his head as Sango stared with her mouth open like she couldn't believe any of this. Oh well, did I really expect Sesshomaru to let out all the details of that night to them before he came searching for me? I couldn't even see him sparing them a glance.

I swore I could have fallen over at her comment but I was quick to shoot it down with denial and stood to defend my ground. "No! We didn't sleep together like that, it's just, there aren't any demons in my time and I told him it was safe and things just, just LEMME TELL THE DAMN STORY!" I shouted, sighing loudly as they both scurried away from my blue fire timidly. I sunk back down to the floor, calming myself like I learned to do with quick meditation, and opened my peaceful eyes.

"Anyway, he told me he wanted to train me with a sword so I could protect myself in combat when Inuyasha abandoned me for Kikyo. I'm pretty sure he was just doing it out of pity." I found myself smiling at his eyes – the damned smoldering pools of golden warmth that still made my bones weak. Damn those eyes. They were the only thing keeping me from yelling to the heavens that I didn't need his pity. "So I came here, thinking that I wouldn't inconvenience the demon lord, or put Rin's life in danger from the things that come after the jewel."

Sango stared at me now, her arms wrapped around her knees with a sad expression on her face. She accepted me rejecting Sesshomaru, but I knew the deep bonds our friendship held for her had been compromised. "Why couldn't you just stay with us in the village, Kagome? We'd keep you safe." She nudged the monk who nodded in time with her, but I knew that if I left his village we'd be faced with the hundreds of greedy demons and humans that desired the jewel. I wouldn't be responsible for their deaths, or that of the people in the village.

I shook my head at them and pulled my hair up into a messy bun, sighing at the breeze. "It's my job to keep me safe, not anyone else's. And now that I live here, I protect everyone in the village with the barrier and my fighting skills. I'm better for this, and so is everyone around me. I'm just one big burden than no one needs, except me obviously." I smiled at my friends, reassuring them but not myself at all. "I found my place in this world, guys."

_No matter how much it hurts_.

I watched as they played with Shippo and told me about everything that had happened while I was away. The mention of Naraku's incarnation sent my skin crawling, but I let it go when I saw the way that Miroku was staring at Sango as she leaned against him. Something significant had happened there, something like them spending the night together I assumed. My worries for their happiness were finally gone, but worries for Sesshomaru seemed to be appearing. Why had he gotten so violent with Kagura, to a point where he decided to end her life? I always thought he sort of liked her and would mate with her someday. Sango explained that he showed no mercy, demanding to know where Naraku was and when she did not explain he cut off her head and set her body on fire.

What a terrible way to die. It showed there was something to fear beyond the golden eyes I remembered staring at me so tenderly. He was a killer, something meant to assert his dominance over the lands he ruled and when creatures disobeyed they were brought to silence. It was almost the same way I purified demons. If there was a youkai threatening the village, the barrier, I acted swiftly and without remorse. _Even when killing_, I blushed as I thought about the way he looked when he fought, _I bet he's still just as handsome as he always is_. His strong jaw made my eyes roll back in my skull, the muscular body that lie beneath the kimono and armor made my mouth water with desire, and the fire in his eyes sent my stomach ablaze with want.

And then I realized just _who_ I had these thought for and was mortified by my own weakness.

Why the hell did I feel this way?. When had I been able to look at Sesshomaru, not with eyes of fear, but eyes of…_lust_? I could feel the fire he'd stared months ago flame up whenever I thought of all the times he held me close to him. I _wanted_ him. I wanted to lick across that jawline, run my hands down those muscles, feel him on top of me as he ravaged every part of my body with his eyes and mouth. Miroku gave me a quizzical look that I promptly ignored and I turned toward the window as my mouth parted and I blushed at the thought of him on top of me in my bed again.

What the hell was wrong with me? I was ten shades of red by now and had so many unanswered questions, all of them ending up the same one I stared with. Why? What had the demon done to me to make me feel this way?

I smiled at my friends as they began to fall asleep against the wall of the hut, and walked away from them like the ninja I was on the inside. There was something I needed to know, someone I needed to see one last time before I came back to the sanctuary of my new life. As the night took over the sky, my eyes closed and I could feel him there again. I could taste the warmth of his scent and feel the heat from his emotion sear across my skin. I touched the glass path around me and continued on toward the smell of honey and jasmine lining the evening breeze with a smile on my lips.

* * *

I found myself pacing the ground, growling lowly in my chest. What was taking those two so damn long? She was either there or she wasn't. What was so complicated about a simple trip down a path I could not see or sense? Inuyasha looked over at me from his spot on a tree branch – the dirt wench in his arms.

We had arrived here hours ago. The monk smirked as his inclinations toward a village that was hidden in the mountain pass were confirmed, but only he and the demon slayer could see it. The hanyou, the graveyard woman, and myself were excluded from seeing a pathway lined with Sakura trees that the monk was familiar with. The barrier was a form of keeping evil out, and I could understand why Inuyasha and I were excluded but the dead Miko evaded my reasoning. She was dead, yes, but still considered spiritual was she not? I glared at the woman in that instant and saw her guarded eyes avoiding me. She was hiding something, that was certain.

"Oi," Inuyasha called down as he caught me staring at the clay woman beside him. I didn't even spare him a glance. He wasn't worth my time. "You keep going like that you're gonna dig a hole in the ground, Sesshomaru. Why do you care so much about what happens to Kagome anyway?" He asked, jumping down from his perch.

_Just because you don't care does not mean I do as well. We are very different, little brother. _I fought ripping him to shreds here as he went on about how it didn't really matter what happened to the living Miko.

"I owe you no explanation, hanyou," I snarled, throwing him aside with a whip of my poison claws. I was not in the humor to entertain the half-breed's thoughts of my love toward the wench he discarded. I did not love Kagome. I did not want her beside me until the end of time. I did not want her. I was not my father.

_Then why are you here?_

"Because someone has to look after that Miko," I snarled to myself. "She falls over her own feet."

_So what? It's not your place to keep her alive is it? What do you care if she dies? _

I stopped pacing and threw my demon back into myself. "She will not die, and if she does, I will bring her back."

_Why? _

It was like I'd been struck through the chest – I was paralyzed as the demon mocked me. I hadn't the answer for that. Such a simple question: why did I care about her? Why did my heart seize at the thought of her falling to her demise, as was the nature of her kind to do? Why did I want her to live forever just so I could see her face every day of my existence? _Father_, I looked toward the sky where I knew the demon stared down at me following exactly into his footsteps. _Is this what you felt for Inuyasha's weak human mother? Why should I allow her to make me so weak?_

"She's made me this way, damned wench! I shall kill her for it." I clenched my teeth together and resumed my pacing. "How could you possibly say being in love with something makes you stronger?" I growled at him, still glaring at the dog shaped cloud I saw above me. The sun was setting, the last breeze of the autumn roared through the sky, and as it did I could hear his words as if he were speaking right next to me.

"_Have you someone to protect?" _

I shut my eyes, letting his question permeate through the air, repeating and slicing through me until I sat beside the mountain. Protecting something and loving something had nothing to do with each other. I could answer my father's question. "I protect Rin, no one else."

The wind sneered at me, whipping my hair around in its grace and called out the same question as if my answer was not the one it desired. I had no answer for my father because I knew I protected Rin, but it was not the same as when I protected Kagome. Even in her home when her grandfather threw sutras to purify me, I was terrified when she stood in the way of them. My fears were irrational; she was a priestess and could not be purified. But my heart desired the old man's blood for threatening her safety.

I did not need her. I did not desire to have her beside me as my mate in this existence. I did not like humans, and I especially did not like priestesses. The feeling seemed to be mutual between me and the holy spirits of these lands, but when I met _her_ and her eyes gazed up at me with so much trust, trust I did not deserve, I felt different. Changed in a way I did not like. I did not need to protect someone or feel weakened in order to be stronger. I was stronger, stronger than all of the demons in all of the lands. I did not need a human Miko to make me stronger.

"I do not need her." The words, though they were true, felt like the most outrageous lie I'd ever told myself, as my mind rejected her presence and my innards warmed. And I was left with the same question as before, the same question I had since I held her in my arms.

Why?

I sat in the same spot, ignoring the couple above me, and meditated. I thought of nothing and soon I was hovering in the air – not bothered by nature or by…

I felt to the ground again. Just the thought of her smile and the feel of her fingers against my markings made me lose all focus. Damned woman, where was she? I wanted to ask her what curse she had put me under to make me feel this way. I wanted her to release me from her magic so I could become myself again. I stood, sensing the presence of someone walking in front of me, and stared at the stone wall. Night had fallen, taking away the light that would keep humans on the path, but this person traveling like it knew exactly where it was going and only needed the pale light of the moon to find its way.

My claws were already dripping behind me, but as a woman emerged from the darkness they vanished and I was left speechless. She was shapely, her hips swayed with each movement in the most tempting way I'd ever seen and her breasts pushed up against the white haori she wore across her shoulders in a way they had not before. Her thick, black hair was low on her back, wrapping around her waist with each step she took with the wind – she was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on and I almost didn't recognize her until the fog cleared around us and she stood in front of me. Her blue eyes stared at me with sadness – the same sadness I saw all of those moons ago and a small smile tugged at her full lips, sending any hope of pushing her away into oblivion. "Kagome."

She approached me, without the fear that should have been in her eyes, and traced the moon across my forehead. I did not stop her, my arm wouldn't move to stop her. I let out the air I'd held inside of me and fought the urge to bring her closer. Our chests were so close they touched whenever she would let out a breath, her scent infiltrated my senses, leaving me frozen and bare for her to see. Her hair flung across my shoulder in the wind, staining my youkai silver with her human black. She looked so deeply into my eyes, her own filled with warmth as the smile that turned me into putty in her hands graced her soft, pink lips. My demon wanted her, it wanted to taste those lips and make her mine right here. She spoke my name and with the sound of her voice I was reminded of the anger filling me. I glared down at the Miko, hatred spilling from ever inch of my body until she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, leaving me rigid as she whispered my name again to herself. "Sesshomaru-sama."

**A/N: **

**Review **

**-Panda**


	12. Through The Waterfall

**A/N: This one took a little longer because it has 3 different versions saved on my laptop! :D I couldn't make up my mind, but this one, I assure y'all is the shizz of them all. And I wanted to it just right so enjoy it :D**

**-Panda**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Through The Waterfall **

I fought the urge to wrap my arm around her small waist and bring her to me so I could take in her summer scent as it rolled off her fair skin. I would not become weak. I was not going to hold her to me ever again. "Miko," I growled purposefully. "If you do not remove your arm I will remove it for you."

With a skip of her heartbeat, she moved ever so slightly away, but her arms hung by her sides and she still smirked up at me with that look. I hated that look. Glaring, I grabbed her around her neck as my eyes ran red with rage. I wanted her blood on my claws. I wanted her dead. I wanted to see her squirm and beg for her life. I wanted to take this feeling away – and her death was a very certain way to make that happen. "I could kill you now," I whispered against her skin as I moved faster than she could see to press my nose against her neck. "I should kill you where you stand for what you've done."

Her body shuddered with the force of my grip and the warmth my breath spread across her human skin. I felt bumps spread across her flesh and her breath had become pants, even after I pierced her skin and watched her blood run down her kimono. Her blood was so thick, hanging in front of me in the air; I almost couldn't resist biting her neck and making her mine. Her little hands wrapped around my wrist and those blue eyes gazed sadly into mine. I could taste her sadness on my tongue, feel her heartache in my chest – heartache brought to her by the hanyou behind me. "But you won't," she whispered shutting her eyes as infernal tears filled them and brought me back to the place where I was standing…with my hand covering her thin neck. "I'm sorry for making you worry-"

I had worried for her. I had yearned to be this close to her again, but I was never going to tell her that as long as I was alive. I showed my weakness in my eyes, but it was only ever present when she was standing beside me. My voice was only for her, and the smile on her lips told me she knew. "You will not leave me again, Miko." My words made her eyes widen and her heart fall into place with mine. I did not care that the hanyou behind us scoffed and rolled his eyes or that he grabbed his dead woman closer when the stench of his jealousy hung thick in the air.

Kagome shook her head after a moment of silence, and let her nervous hands rest on mine. "You are welcome in my village now and forever, Sesshomaru-sama." She bowed her head and I had to keep myself from smirking.

Damn woman.

She smiled, gracing me with that warmth once again, when I set her back down on the ground and glared at the forest. I could hear the demons from my army slithering through it, going back to my lands. Now was the time to be inside of her purifying aura. "Lady Kikyo?" Her voice startled the hanyou and I, but also the dead woman who was placed with such a title. Perhaps Kagome did not hate the wench as I once thought she had. She had every right to hate the corpse. Why did she show her mercy through her blue pools of warmth? The corpse didn't deserve such a look. I fought back a possessive snarl when the dead Miko stepped forward, but my hand gathered tightly in Kagome's kimono. I pulled her back so she was standing beside me rather than in front of me.

When the dead Miko didn't respond, because of the fear rolling off her scent in waves, Kagome continued with her innocent smile. "I have something that is yours, something that was never mine to take in the first place and I think it is time that I give it back to you."

The dead woman nodded. "What is it that you plan to do, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked, speaking for the woman he jumped in front of.

Kagome smiled and bit her lip. "Something that requires us to be inside of the barrier, and you've nothing to worry about if we do go because all evil is purified inside the village. I promise that no harm will come to either of you." I couldn't help but admire the way she spoke to them, leaving her intention masked and her honor unstained. She had learned from me already and we hadn't even begun to know one another.

A strange sense of pride flooded me as I followed in front of Inuyasha and the dead woman, but still behind Kagome with my hand tightened over the back of her kimono. If they tried anything they would have to get through me first – and that, was not possible.

I followed the Miko up a trail, but instead of going toward the humans, we ventured down a separate path that led deeper into the forest. I could smell a hot spring and felt my throat tighten – surely she would not lead us there, and if she did I knew I would not be able to keep my demon from taking over. I could still recall the first night I had seen her after Inuyasha betrayed her.

She stood up in the water, completely unashamed of anything she had to offer because she believed she was imperfect. The image hadn't left my mind since. I shut my eyes as we passed the spring and saw her before me, her cheeks flushed from the warmth, her pink buds hardened from the cool air around her, the dip between her legs laced with the clove water and lust as her eyes sat upon me, and her long hair draped across her body as she looked at me with the most miserable expression I'd ever seen a human carry. It was only too obvious she had been crying that night.

_I will kill the hanyou and bring him back for every tear she shed because of him. _

I could feel the spiritual power seep into my skin, warning me that if I even moved against the half-breed I would be exterminated from this life. Fine, I would save such thoughts for when he and I were away from this cursed place that kept Kagome away from me for so long. "It's just up ahead," she pointed toward a calm waterfall where the water from ten feet above us fell into a koi laced pool of water. It was peaceful as it bathed in the pale moonlight, but what I noticed was the way Kagome kept her eyes closed and her senses spiked.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she whispered my name. "You must let go of me." Instantly my body froze and I would not, but when her gazed turned on me I trusted her judgment. She had kept herself safe these many moons relying solely on such decisions.

She walked away from me and with each step I followed close behind until we stood before the peaceful water falling before us. There was something beyond this place, something spiritual that was not of this world, and could not be explained. Kagome stepped in into the falls and before I could object about the weight of the water crushing her, she was gone. Panicking like a fool, I dashed inside and crashed into her back because she was waiting for us to cross as well. She smirked up at me when I steadied our bodies and looked down at the way her wet clothing clung to her matured curves.

_Fuck._ I had to look away. Those rocks seemed very interesting, suspicious even. I walked over to them for closer examination and left the shivering woman a few paces from me.

"Kagome, it's beyond this waterfall?" Inuyasha yelled over the roar inside of the cave. _Obviously if she led us here it meant what she wanted to give your wench was beyond the waterfall_. Idiotic hanyou.

She nodded. "Yes! Take Kikyo and jump through the water!" She shouted back, making sure her small voice was heard by the two-timer.

When he jumped through the waves Kagome was face to face with him and I saw the heartache inside of her was plain on her face. The dead woman appeared to be smirking at her pain, but I was probably wrong. Reading human emotion was not one of my better assets. "What is this place, Miko?" I wondered as we all turned toward the opposite opening in the cave and saw where she had led us to.

There was a pool of water that smelled as pure as she did inside of an open circular cavern. The moonlight shone down on the living Miko as she stepped into the water with her soft smile. She was beautiful.

…_Beautiful_? When had I ever used _that_ word in conversation, even if it was just a thought? I glared down at the ground, cursing her for making me this weak, but continued to watch whatever it was she was about to do. "This place is what the village guards. This place is why the jewel is so pure when its inside of the barrier. The priestess before me couldn't explain it either, but it's a place where the Gods bathed before their time on this earth was finished. It has extradorniary powers that we cannot even begin to describe. I've seen it heal burns, cuts, fatal wounds," she grabbed something from inside of her Kimono. It was a vile of something bright purple and white shooting around inside of the glass. "So I've come to see that this is the place where I should return your soul to you, Kikyo."

I snarled and shook my head at the Miko fiercely. Did she not know the consequence of returning a soul to this woman? She was a pile of dirt and old bone, not flesh. "You shall not do such a thing. Do you not realize that she is dead and giving her soul back could sacrifice your life?"

She smiled and took my hand, which I didn't know had rested on her forearm, in hers. "I thought the same thing, until I explained to Lady Nozomi what had happened when Kikyo was brought back. Her soul, Sesshomaru-sama, is already out of my body. It lies here, in this vile. Separate from my own," She spoke the words to the stunned Miko woman in front of her and beckoned the dead woman into the water beside her.

"I just need," Kagome muttered as the corpse stood beside her. "These herbs," she fished around inside of her shirt and brought forth some odd plants I had never seen before. Apparently the dead Miko hadn't either, her eyebrows creased together in confusion when Kagome spread them into the water around them and chanted with her eyes shut. The water began to flow around them, spin in circles so no one else could enter, and before Inuyasha could complain I held him back.

"Trust in the woman, Inuyasha. It was you that betrayed her, not the other way around." I growled at the hanyou as the water began to glow bright white and Kagome opened the vile, but not without first handing her a branch from a Sakura tree and whispering something I could not hear in her ear. It made the dead woman smile with foreign tears in her black eyes. Kagome stepped out of the circle, frightening the dead woman, but poured the soul into the crystal clear waters that swiftly rose around the dead woman.

"Kagome what the hell is happening to her? Kikyo!" Inuyasha shouted, but before he could barge into the water Kagome's eyes hit him like a sword through his chest and his step faltered.

"Do not interfere, Inuyasha or she will die." I recognized that coldness. It was the same coldness that laced my tone when anyone dare disobey my will. Another wave of pride hit my chest as she glared in the same way I did, silencing the half-demon.

I held the half-breed back and watched as the waves rise above his lovers head, engulfing her clay body while she just stood there; holding the herb Kagome gave her in her hands with her eyes shut tightly. The waters began to lower, and the dead woman was no longer standing inside of them. I could smell the ash from her clay body burning from the purity all around us, and so could Inuyasha. He squirmed and snarled at Kagome, reaching for her with his claws as he damned her. Kagome smiled at him, shaking her head as she commented on his hopelessness. "Inuyasha," she whispered, pointing toward the calm water. "Look into the pool."

Curiosity overcame me. As I commended her once again for the way she destroyed her enemies, I was proven wrong. The woman lie, naked as the day she was born, beside a pile of graveyard soil and dust that floated down the stream of the pool and left it as clear as it had been before we had disturbed it. The water gave way to white light from inside of the reflection of the woman and the rest came from the unsoiled water. They rose out of the pool and swirled before the moonlight, dancing before they became one and dipped back below the calm waters. Kagome was smiling brighter than ever, but even I could see the sadness in her dark blue eyes. She was happy that Inuyasha was happy, even if that meant she was not the one bringing that happiness. She was so selfless she was stupid. The only reason I stayed was to see if she had killed the woman and set her soul into the afterlife.

The woman beyond the water opened her eyes and they were no longer black, but deep brown and copper. She stared up at Inuyasha, not with the fake smile from before, but with a genuine one that graced her entire face – she looked more like Kagome than ever. Inuyasha, stunned, offered her his hand and she emerged from the water. But she was not as she had been before. Her skin was pale and pink where she blushed before he covered her with the robes of the fire rat, her scent had gone from dead and earthy to pure and like the autumn air. She was no longer a dead woman: Kagome had brought her back to life and given her a body, but not just a body, her own body from her previous life.

"What happen to you two was not fair and not fated," Kagome spoke as they stared at each other, one with unbelievable warmth and the other with disbelieving shock. "Naraku separated you when you fell in love and were going to be together for the rest of your lives, and the Gods have agreed that that was not the way it was supposed to be. If they hadn't, Kikyo, you would still be made of clay, just with your rightful soul. I've spent too much time taking away the years you could spend together, and now the only thing I ask if that you never part from this day until time ends." Such wisdom, how had she become this woman that thrust her pain behind her for the good of others? I couldn't see any reason to it. I felt not the feelings of remorse or loss, only what was and what is.

"Kagome," Kikyo rasped, her voice still thick from the water. "How can I ever thank you?" She stumbled over to the surprised girl and wrapped her arms around her in a deep hug. Kagome had just given the dead woman her life back, a life that was meant to happen and never had. She had given this woman a reason to breathe and continue living in this world, and I no longer sensed the darkness lurking inside of her as it had before.

Kagome returned the hug, smiling at the woman that had taken everything from her. "Love him even into the afterlife and there will be nothing to thank." Even though she whispered I could hear the pain and sadness in her tone and it made me want to slaughter the two traitors where they stood. How could they hurt her only to accomplish their own happiness?

The revived woman whispered more words to Kagome as Inuyasha stood beside me, bewildered at what had just happened. "Relish in the fact that the woman you care for was brought back to life by the woman you betrayed instead of murdered. If it were me, I would have killed you where you stood." I snarled at him, glaring before I walked to where Kagome stood in the middle of the water with her head turned up toward the moon.

Inuyasha and his wench kissed in the cave's darkness and I ignored the way Kagome hummed to herself. I needed answers. "Why did you give her life?"

She smiled at me, touching my forehead with her fingertips. "There are some things even the person that has done the act can't come to understand, Sesshomaru-sama. If he is happy with her then who am I to interfere? Wouldn't you do the same for Rin, if she were to leave you for a man that was incomplete?"

"That is different and you know it. Rin is like my child, not my lover as Inuyasha was to you for some time," I reminded her.

She gave me the same smile, but darkness drenched her eyes. I almost regretted my words. "Could you take away someone from the person you loved, even if he was the only person in this world that made her happy?" Her voice was raw and I could smell fresh tears in her eyes. "I know that I couldn't, I _wouldn't_, take Kikyo from him because she is what makes him happy. And that's all that matters," her voice trailed off and I found her eyes had turned on me.

"There is still one thing I have to give to you, Sesshomaru-sama." She grabbed my kimono and faced me, staring into my eyes as Kikyo and Inuyasha retreated from this place in all of their happiness. She would bear his children, grow old with him, die before him and I was sure he would follow soon after. I turned my attention to the Miko in front of me and scowled.

"If what you are about to give should provoke more tears I do not want it." I had no idea how to handle tears. Whenever I saw tears someone was begging for me to spare them, not hurting because of something I wasn't sure that I possessed when I was away from Kagome. The only reason I knew it existed when she was here was because it beat in time with hers.

She wiped her cheeks, shaking her head. "No, what I am about to give is something I took from you a long time ago. Something I've always felt you were incomplete without, and a demon like you should never have to be incomplete, Sesshomaru-sama." She whispered the last part, but she knew that I heard it.

I felt her hand move toward the left side of me, and I growled defensively. "Do not touch me, Miko. I do not need anything from you." No one would ever touch me there. It was the only spot on my body that shown I was humbled before my little brother and her small fingers were trailing the kimono sleeve that hid the shame inside of me. She did not heed my warning, and my eyes flashed red as her hand entered my kimono and trailed upwards.

"Trust me," she whispered as she got on the tops of her toes to whisper in my ear.

I trusted nothing in this world. Everything I'd ever encountered was betrayal. My father betrayed me for a human woman and my half-brother received all of his affection – even in his afterlife. My mother betrayed my father for countless demon men while he was with Inuyasha's human mother. Every demoness I'd ever laid with had betrayed me in an attempt to gain position at my throne and rule over the west. Even the sun betrayed the moon in the sky by hiding its mystery during the day when it shone down and gave everyone hope. The moon only earned fear and distrust in humans and animals alike. Trust was a thing I swore I would never have because all trust led to was anger and betrayal.

But when I was with this mere human mortal, I felt trust. I felt hope that the reason my father left my mother was because she was cold and left him first for another man. I felt hope that my father gave Inuyasha affection because he knew that he need it more than I did in his tragic half-breed existence. I felt hope that the moon was the one that hid from the light because it knew that being in the shine of it left it bare and weakened. I felt hope that I would someday give in to trust like I had whenever I was with this woman.

Her hand ran up my sleeve when my conflicted eyes went back to their golden hue and I stared down at her closely. She sensed my worry and smiled up at me even warmer than she had before. We were alone, in this secluded circle of light below the full moon, when her hand touched the scarred flesh that Inuyasha had left there when he claimed his birthright. I was imperfect. I wasn't whole. I wasn't worthy of that sensual smile across her pink lips. She deserved a man that was full and complete, a man that would love her like no other.

She knew that she would never get that from me. I could feel heat spreading across the skin, I could hear the sound of raw bone being formed from the water and herbs below us, and I could feel my flesh being ripped open and stretched, but my eyes did not waiver from hers. I could not look down to see what she was doing – I could only guess that she was taking away the pain this wound still caused me, because it no longer throbbed dully under the silk.

She came so impossibly close, I could taste her scent with my lips, feel her warmth through my armored plates and just as we were about to connect her hand glided down my shoulder, rested across the scars, but did not stop where they finished. Her little hand trailed down an arm, filled with new strength and marked the same as my other one was, and as she looked down to where her fingers pressed against mine, my eyes traveled to the new part of me that she had given back even though she had never taken it. She did not owe me any kindness, she did not cut off my arm to begin with, but here we stood her eyes set directly on mine as she held my _left_ hand in hers.

She pressed her face against my neck, even smiling as she nuzzled me once – a sign of affection in all demons like me, but neither of us spoke. We watched as the water became calmed and the black and white koi around us began to swim through the stream that led out of this sacred pool. I marveled at the limb that was even better than the one I was birthed with because it had come from her, and let my head fall on top of hers. I had no idea that this was possible, and I never expected to be the whole youkai I had been long ago. I owed her my deepest gratitude, but before I could express it she moved out of the circle of my right arm.

_Don't go._

I moved toward her, but stopped when she bowed her head in a way I so detested. When her eyes stared up at mine, the sadness from before was even stronger and I felt guilt pierce my heart. "You are welcome to the village for as long as you would like," she looked overhead as clouds began to form. "I'll leave you now, Sesshomaru-sama."

I watched as she walked out of the water and into the darkness of the cave, but I could not move. My demon mourned for the loss of contact with her summer scented skin. My rationality wanted to run to her and kiss away the sadness in those deep cerulean eyes. When had they ever both agreed on something? Had I let myself, unknowingly, fall into the spell of those eyes?

Had I not spent the last five months looking for a smile? No, not _a_ smile but _her_ smile, the one that made my heart beat in my chest when I thought all hope for it was lost. Had I not spent all this time wondering if she had found someone else to share that smile with? Had her warmth not left my flesh even after she was gone beyond the well that night and lost to me the next day? _Of all the things for you to give me father_…I stared at the full moon that was quickly covered by blackened clouds and thought of his love for Inuyasha's human mother. When it happened it seemed foolish, selfish, weak of him to abandon his life for that moral woman as I would do this this very instant for her.

Why did I feel this? I think I finally had the answer to that question, as I stared down at the limb that was still thick with her warmth. I shut my eyes and let her summer scent carry me to her – and her evocative smile that warmed my soul.

* * *

Walking away from him was the hardest thing I had to do, but I found the strength after giving him what I had taken to move my head from his chest and back away. I longed for him, for his touch and his love, but I knew he would never feel those things for me. His eyes were so wild I couldn't read them and only assumed they were that way because he didn't know that I had the ability to heal the forgotten wound below his haori. It wasn't only giving him back something that Inuyasha and I took away, but it was giving him a part of me that he could keep even after I died. He could feel my affection for him even as I smiled down upon the demon lord in the afterlife.

"I miss you," I whispered, shutting my eyes as I fell against a Sakura tree along the path. I could feel myself in his embrace, being stared at by those confounded golden pools that followed me everywhere as his fingers grazed the skin below my kimono.

_I miss your eyes. _

"I miss your touch."

_I want to be with you. _

"Forever."

It was a rare day that my mind and my heart actually agreed upon something, but this day as I remembered the way his eyes turned to molten fire that raged arousal in my stomach, they couldn't help but throw caution to the wind. I didn't care if he betrayed me for a demon woman. I didn't care if he didn't feel this way about me, too. I would never leave him, but I would always…_care_ about him. My heart stuttered and stirred at my mind's confession to what my heart knew all along.

I could never say it to him. I couldn't be hurt like that again. I said it only one other time, and the man that heard the words was now in another woman's arms. He'd laughed at me when I told him. He called me stupid and told me I didn't even know what that felt like. He rejected me because his heart was already taken and now that that woman was back for good, I knew he was only thinking of her back then when he looked at me. She was so much like me when she was breathing, with a heartbeat. Her cheeks flushed red; her eyes showed her emotions better than she could express them – just like me.

Their affections were deep, flowing even after time had stopped for both of them. I only hoped that now they could finally be happy and live the life they wanted. That was the only thing I ever wanted from her and my only request was for them to be happy. That was all that mattered and in the end I already knew they would be – the Gods would not have made her whole again if they weren't to be. I found my feet again and continued on toward the village after the storm I'd been feeling approach fell. The rain turned to white flakes of swirling ice. It was snowing around me, just as it had been the night I came here.

My eyes settled on the hut below the shrine steps, and I swung the bamboo doors open to find Sango and Miroku huddled by the fire, and Inuyasha and Kikyo, who borrowed a spare uniform I had, opposite them. "Hey guys, don't worry I've got everything we need to battle the cold!" I proclaimed proudly, getting smiles from my companions as I marched through the hut.

I had brought things from my time for this occasion and after greeting everyone I went toward the back of the hut where two paper doors led into a room where I slept. I gathered sleeping bags that would hold well below these temperatures, and requested that everyone share because I only had two. Inuyasha and Kikyo bundled up on the right wall while Miroku and Sango took the left. Kilala was transformed because her blood was warmer that way, and she huddled around the couple while Shippo buried himself in her fur.

I'd have to deal with a wet kimono and a thin blanket, but as long as my friends were alright I'd be fine. I shut the windows on either side of the hut and pulled plastic over them to keep the bitterness from the storm out as much as possible. The door swung open one last time and I was faced with a different looking Sesshomaru, all because everyone's eyes fell on the left arm that was now visible below his robes.

"Kagome," Kikyo's eyes widened. "You already gave me this body, how did you manage to find the energy to regrow a demon arm?" I blushed as everyone looked curiously at me and shrugged.

"I am exhausted, if that's what you mean. Sesshomaru-sama, you are welcome to stay out here or accompany me to my room if you'd be more comfortable alone." I said alone because I certainly would not bother him – I didn't want my life to end tonight. I was too tired for death. He could kill me tomorrow if he wanted to, but right now I just wanted sleep. When he nodded, accepting my offer, he stepped into the hut and I threw the plastic cover I'd recovered from my time over the door and secured the warmth from the fire inside. "Goodnight everyone," I yawned, stretching as I saw Inuyasha and Kikyo already half asleep, Miroku and Sango quick to follow. It appeared Sesshomaru and I were the only ones who were still among conscious minds.

"My room is just here," I stood beside the door to the dark room with covered windows and he followed me inside. I left the door open, hoping the heat from the fire would soon engulf the room, and grabbed my blanket. "Are you cold?" I asked, turning toward him with the thin blanket.

"Demons do not get cold like humans do, Miko. I will be fine," he wrapped the blue blanket around my shoulders and started taking his armor off. "I'm assuming this is alright?" He stilled his moving hands when my eyes went wide and I blushed, but when I nodded her continued to take off the spikes across his left shoulder. After everything was untied, I watched with even wider eyes as he began to take off his upper kimono, exposing the one below it.

"Here," he handed the red and white garment to me and answered when I looked up at him dumbly. "Your clothes are wet. This should be long enough for you to sleep in until they have dried." He stepped outside of the room, leaving me inside with my mouth hanging open because of his actions. He wanted me to wear his kimono because I was cold? Why did he even care? Well, _I_ didn't. I was damn cold.

I slipped my traditional clothing off and wrapped the kimono that fell just to the tops of my knees around me. I almost groaned when the smell of his skin whipped around me, enveloping me in an embrace as tight as the clothing across my shoulders was. I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and hung the wet clothes against the wall to the left of me. "You can come in now, Sesshomaru-sama." I whispered, tapping the door because I knew he could hear me.

"Are you warmer?" He asked, staring down at me with hard eyes until I nodded and sat on the big mat in the middle of the room. He sat against the wall and stared at me when I grinned over at him.

"Thank you," I whispered and motioned toward the clothes when his eyebrow rose in confusion. "For this, I mean. I'd probably have gotten sick if you hadn't."

He looked away from me and toward the front room, sighing. "It is the least I can do after…" he trailed off and we both looked at his left arm. "I should be the one thanking you, Mik-Kagome. I did nothing to earn your kindness and yet you give me all of yours." He glared at me and I knew the reason he was here now. He was interested in why I did this.

I turned toward him, sitting with the blanket covering my entire body, and crossed my legs. "I did it because I care about you, Sesshomaru-sama. You're my friend and you deserve to be whole again. You don't need to thank me because that's what friends do." Kami, I hated the word friends being the one to describe what we had. I felt more like saying 'dude, we're both so lost and I found myself in you. Get over it and shut up,' but I didn't want to sound like a weirdo.

"Friends," he smirked at the word like he could tell the way I'd said it with disdain. He said nothing else, but when I shuddered from a breeze that had gotten through the thin walls, he stared at me with intense eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled against his chest with wide eyes and my mouth hanging open. I could feel his entire body from where he held me between his legs. He wrapped the moko-moko around me and instantly I felt my entire body heat up. Whether it was from embarrassment, lust, or the warm fur around me I couldn't say. "W-why?"

"You're cold, I'm warm. It's as simple as that." He avoided my gaze, so I curled up against him, bringing my legs to my chest with a deep sigh. I always thought him to be so cold, as freezing as his expressions were, and most of the time he was, but right now he felt like the sun. I pressed my cold nose against his neck and tasted the jasmine off his skin with a moan. I couldn't contain it, I was too exhausted to act like I didn't want him, but before I could stare into his eyes and lose myself, my own eyes drooped and I nuzzled him shamelessly.

His chuckle surrounded me because of my actions, his warmth embraced me with the help of his arms that tightened around my waist, and I fell asleep against the demon lord's chest – my lullaby his heartbeat. His words were like whispers in a dream, familiar words that he'd spoken before of a promise he had yet to break and my heart warmed at the nostalgia they held. "I promise," he whispered into my ear with a smile against my skin. "I will be here when you wake, Kagome."

**A/N: **

**I love this chapter :D I really do! It was so fun to write :DDDD I'm already writing chapter fifteen, like, as I'm updating :D**

**Review it!**

**-Panda-chan**


	13. Loyalty

**Chapter Fifteen **

**Loyalty **

It was deafeningly loud below her sweet skin. My nose grazed the flesh above the noise, tasting her with my tongue across her chest. I moaned at the taste, wanting to trail down lower to sink into her arousal and my weakness. My noise moved from her breast to her neck, and stayed there where the blood collected underneath her alabaster skin.

_Thud, bump, thud. _

My closeness made it louder, made her breathing harder and her cheeks flush. Did she fear me, as she should have, only in slumber? Did her heartbeat betray her braveness in the daylight? I couldn't find myself believing that as she sat between my legs and dreamed, her fingers twirling around my hair like they had the first night I'd been so compromised by this human woman. The first night I admitted that she was different, even if only to myself. I would only ever admit it to her that she made me so weak. So vulnerable.

My claws rose to her throat. I could kill her now. She made me furious. She made me aggravated. She made my blood boil under my skin and my mind wander when I thought about her silky skin beneath my fingertips. She was beautiful. She was wretched. She was innocent. She was weak, like every other human. My hand shook and poison oozed onto the floor beside her.

But I could not kill her.

I could not take her life, for I cared about her more than I did myself. I frowned, feeling the warmth of her still in my newly grown limb. She'd given me part of herself, creating this. She owed me nothing and gave me everything. I buried my face in her hair and spread my cool breath across her skin. She smiled in her sleep and whispered my name, making my own heart come alive in the winter night. She felt me in her sleep, she was dreaming of me. Pride swelled in my chest, possession swelled deeper inside of me and I found my lips at her neck. She was so close, so beautiful like summer's rain…

"What the hell are you doing?" Inuyasha grumbled, and my head snapped up to see him standing in the doorway looking down at where she lay so close to me. I clutched her closer and showed my teeth, promising the hanyou silently that if he even thought of touching her I would end his life this night. She would not be compromised because of him.

"She is cold. Do you expect me to let her freeze?"

"Keh," he snorted, looking down at me with narrowed eyes. "I dunno what your game here is Sesshomaru, but leave Kagome out of it. You hate humans and she's probably the kindest one I've ever met. The Tetsusaiga isn't worth breaking her heart."

"I do not desire father's fang, Inuyasha. I am not like you. I do not torture and break women by fooling them into loving me for my own gain when I love someone else. This Miko knows that I do not love her. But do you not think feeling as you do for Kagome will get in the way of your wench's newfound life? Yes, I do smell the jealousy on you when I'm this close to Kagome or when she smiles at me instead of you. But I will not let you, or anyone else in this world, harm her anymore." I snarled and wrapped my arms around the Miko's waist. "Do as you wish with the other woman."

I cared not what he thought about the relationship between this Miko and myself because not even I knew what it meant. I was sure that Kagome would be safe with me and I was not going to lose her again to anything or anyone – I was strong enough to keep her alive. No matter how maddening she made my life. My eyes flashed red when he took a step closer and he stumbled back, sitting down outside of the room. A wise decision.

He glared, nodding toward the sleeping Miko in my arms. "Why are you here? You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself you bastard."

"I do care for her." I spoke with such fierceness that his eyes narrowed and he smirked at me like the idiot he was. "But I will never love her, she is human and therefore unworthy of the title I claim."

"Then don't make her think you do love her, asshole." He was growling at me now. When he saw my obvious oblivion to his words, he rolled his eyes. "Just look at her you dumbass!" He pointed to her and I was ready to snap his finger off his hand for coming so close to her before my eyes trailed down toward the woman curled up to me.

She was exactly that, _curled_ around me. Her legs were rested across one of mine, her waist length hair spread across mine, and her hand that wasn't twirled in my hair was placed right above my chest. She was smiling. Her heart was beating with such saturation that emotion flickered past my lips. Her heartbeat was steady; she showed no fear of me any longer. Her smile…_that_ smile was my undoing and I found myself moving closer to her, closer to those pink lips that I wanted to take in mine. "You believe she loves me, Inuyasha?" I wondered, a smirk on my lips at such foolishness. She could never love a demon. She was a goddess embodied in a human form, I was sure of it.

"No shit. She gave you your arm back, she's sleeping in your arms, and she smiles every time she's around you."

I shut my eyes and prepared to diminish all of his accusations. "She gave it back out of guilt because she felt you cut it off uselessly. I've explained before, she is cold and having her catch a human sickness would inconvenience me, so she lies close to me this night and this night only. She smiles at everyone, hanyou, and you very well know that. She does not trust me, and therefore does not want me here. She ran from me every moment I'd gotten closer in my search. She stepped out of this barrier and I was on the move, trying to find her before the scent was ridden from this world again. I've been through these mountains hundreds of times these many moons because something inside of me could feel her here and yet she hid from me. She only welcomed me here this evening because of the storm beyond these walls, and I obliged her will because I will not see her guilt-ridden at my expense. So you see, hanyou, Kagome does not love me." I shut my eyes, feeling a lie slip from my lips. "And I do not love her."

"Yeah, I guess you pretty much covered everything," he smirked. "Except that the entire time you were talking you've been holding her tighter to you and even I can smell the arousal coming from both of you right now. Explain that one to me."

I glared at him, challenging him to say anything else that would dishonor mine or her honor. "I am a demon man in the presence of a beautiful woman wearing next to no clothing. I am not ashamed to say I feel the need to mate." However, I could not explain why every time I was this close to the Miko the delicate, tempting aroma of her arousal was pungent in the air. I wanted to lick away the warmth of it until she was begging for me to end her. I wanted to taste her on my tongue so I could leave this place and never desire her again.

"And what about her? Can you explain why every time you're around she's melting in your hands?" He growled, his jealousy hanging thickly around us. It was my turn to smirk at him.

"I cannot and certainly never shall explain to you why _she_ desires _me_."

The half-breed glowered from this position in the doorway, knowing if he came any closer I would kill him whether Kagome liked it or not, but said nothing more. It was done…but I had not convinced myself that I felt nothing for her. With every beat of her heart my eyes softened. It was not _she_ that melted in my hands, but _I_ in hers. My nose burrowed against her soft neck, showing my weakness to only her in the dark.

"Why do I feel this?" I asked myself, looking down at her parted lips curiously. "Why do I desire you, Miko? It is not because you've restored me." No, it would have only just started if it was that. I've felt this since that damned night in her bed beyond the well. "It is not because you've saved Rin's life." Certainly it was not because of that, even if it had contributed to my curiosity about this human woman. "It is not because I wish to bring harm to Inuyasha by hurting him through you." However pleasant that sounded, it was not the reason behind this…incensing warmth.

I felt as though I had been waiting five hundred years to see her face, waited five hundred years to feel this warmth and to see the smirk on her lips when I held her. To feel her trust warm my skin so I could place my heart in her hands and know it would always be safe there. I could never be hurt by those blue eyes. I could never place doubt in her smile and kindness. I pressed my face into her hair again, sighing. Damn that Inuyasha.

She'd woken, sometime in the conversation for her heartbeat was again erratic and her breath came evenly. I brought her skin nearer, telling her with my actions that if she just woke I did not want her to leave the safety of my arms. I did not trust the half-demon sitting beside his wench in the other room. "Do you wish for me to move?" I wondered, looking down at the fluttering blue eyes that met my face.

"N-no," she flushed looking away from me and played with her hair. "I just felt something change, outside, I mean." She wondered as she stood up and I followed close behind her. She grabbed my hand, making my eyes widen, and glanced outside curiously. The snow had stopped, but all I could focus on were her little fingers wrapped around half of my hand. My fingers twitched, screaming at me to just hold the soft skin in my own.

"Oh," she smiled at the night sky and her eyes sparkled in the pale light of the moon shining down on the thick snowy grounds. "It's so beautiful!"

_Yes, you are. _

A rouge flake fell into my grasp, having slid off the dead Sakura tree beside her hut and with its wet voice it sang the meaning of this to me. "Hn. It seems the first snow of the year has fallen," I frowned. That would mean I had to leave her. "I will return." I swore to myself and the stunned woman beside me. I turned away, releasing her heat and her hand caught mine again, stopping me as she sank into the snow in my pursuit. It was easier this time to wrap my fingers around her small hand and I found a smile across my lips for accomplishing such a feat.

"W-where are you going?" My eyes narrowed at her small voice, embarrassed and self-conscious did not suit this beautiful Miko. If she meant to ask me a question she must be direct about it, not shy. Not to me.

I let the smile fall from my lips and glanced over my shoulder at her. "I will return before the day has ended, Miko." The bamboo door swung in my hands and she followed me to where my armor lay across the floor of her quarters.

I settled it across my chest and felt tiny hands swat mine away. She was shaking her head as she tied them snugly across me, perfectly, like she'd memorized how they went on. "You obviously don't put this on much by yourself. Let me help," she offered her hand to tie the other side and I nodded, giving way to her will once again.

She offered to give me back the silk robes that symbolized my demonic royalty, but I shook my head and tied them tighter around her tiny waist. "You will catch your death in this weather and I don't have the mind to bring you back to life today." But I would do anything to prevent that day from coming, even if it meant…I glanced at her exposed neck and pushed the thought out of my head.

Her fingers trailed across the red sash laced around Tensaiga that had belonged to her before she left me, and her smile was tender as it met my eyes. "Why?"

I touched her hand above the fabric, not understanding why I felt the need to explain. "I kept this so I might track down your scent when I was looking for you."

_And to feel that you were close to me when you were lost. _

Her smile fell a little and she looked down to the floor. "Oh." She tied the last knot then secured the two swords that would accompany me on this journey firmly, leaving the black blade forged from her spirit and my fang in the corner.

She eyed it curiously and went to hand it to me, but my fingers grasped hers again – I'd startled her. "That sword is not mine. I cannot wield it, even if I wanted to. It was forged for the Miko with spiritual power great enough to defeat my own."

Her hand fell from trying to reach for it then, and she nodded. She did not understand. "Please," she whispered as she came toward me, her fingers still laced with mine when I went to explain it was her sword and I was to teach her how to use it. "Please keep yourself alive."

I smirked sinisterly at the girl and pressed her into the thin wall. "You doubt my ability to keep myself alive, Miko?" My claws grazed her skin, heating the spot they touched like oil to a fire and her eyes clouded with lust that I could smell pooling between her legs. Her eyes rolled back and she shook her head no, her mouth forming a very pleasing 'o' as my claws traced down her side and I pressed into her, slipping my fingers into the kimono to grab her fleshy hip. "I will return to you, Kagome." I whispered in her ear, toying with her arousal just long enough for my own to die down from what it had been as our flesh made contact hours ago in the God pool beyond the waterfall.

She bobbed her head up and down lazily, leaning into my touch until my hand left the heated skin above her sex and ventured into the chilled silk across her tiny waist. She pressed her face into my neck, nuzzling me in such a way that made me want to stay and claim her right now. I released her hand, breaking the trance of fog in her eyes and pressed my forehead to hers once before walking away without another word. My loyalty lied with her now, and it would forever more.

She followed behind me quickly to the doorway, but I stopped her before she placed her feet into the snow with a glare. She was sure to get sick in this weather without shoes across her pale feet. The Miko smiled at me, and even after I'd gathered my cloud and took to the skies I could feel it upon me – the heat from her skin, the trust from her deep gaze.

It wasn't long before I could smell my territory, feel the ache in my soul to be patrolling back in my lands and found myself standing at the castle I called my home these many centuries. Jaken was the first to come running, begging for forgiveness for not having seen my arrival sooner. He questioned why I was without my upper kimono and I successfully ignored him. Trivial nonsense. "Jaken," I spoke sternly. "Where is Rin?"

"Right here, Sesshomaru-sama!" The young girl grinned as she ran toward me with her arms stretched out as wide as they would go. She then continued to hug my leg, hand me a flower, and gaze up at me childishly with a toothy grin. "You returned, just as you promised!" I nodded. I never broke a vow of my honor, especially when it came to the little girl that barely reached the height of my leg.

"I have. Apologies for my elongated departure, Rin but I have found Kagome for you." Of course I was set to this purpose by Rin's wide, innocent eyes. I could deny her nothing and she loved Kagome like the big sister that she never had, so how could I tell her to stay away from the protector of the jewel, probably the most dangerous and fear woman on the island? "We are going to her village." There were more pressing matters, matters of the safety of this castle and the subjects inside of it.

"Jaken," I called to the bowing toad. "You are to tell all of the servants that they will return to their villages. There are to be no exceptions. Everyone is to be gone from this castle by sundown. It is no longer safe here at the western castle." Even just stepping outside of Kagome's protective barrier I could feel the evil miasma around the lands of the east and south. They had not yet reached here, but when they did no one would go unseen and nothing would be safe.

"And what is to become of us three, Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin asked curiously, grabbing onto the sleeve that she always had when I was armless. I reached down and took her hand in mine, shocking the girl into squealing at the newly grown limb before she looked it over a thousand different ways. Jaken presumed to shed tears, as he always said he did for me because I never would. Foolish.

"It's a miracle, Sesshomaru-sama! Your arm has regrown!" Jaken squawked when I bent down to Rin's height and stared at her frightened and excited eyes. The miracle was the affectionate way Kagome's heartbeat against mine, not the trivial regrowth of my missing limb.

"You are to fill the pack that Kagome gave you with your belongings, Rin. Jaken you are to saddle Ah-Un." Rin skipped off happily, singing of how the flowers bloomed in the spring, and Jaken looked at me with question on his face.

When he caught my glare, he twitched and hid behind his staff. "W-where are we headed, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"To the north," I mumbled to myself, staring at the electric twinge in my veins that only sparked when I thought of her deep blue eyes. Anxiety. I wished to be with her again. "Go." I growled at him when he didn't move from where he stood. He ran off, begging for mercy as he went to the stables where Ah-Un slept away from the burden of the snow.

My arm fell to my side and I looked up at the clouded morning sky, thinking only of the sensation of her hand against mine and the intensity her simple touch left me as Rin sang loudly behind me, placed her bag on the two headed dragon and like a child of my own, stepped on Jaken to settle herself on her back. A smile graced my face as the emotion sank into my heart and I recognized it for what it was, for what was happening to me. "What have you done to me, Miko?"

* * *

Watching him fly away shouldn't have hurt that much. I turned back toward the hut and saw everyone was awake, and everyone had just seen that really happen. Flushing, I went toward the kettle and smiled innocently at my friends_. Please, Kami let them have not seen what happened in my room_! "Tea?"

"W-what the hell just happened?" Sango stammered, looking at me like_ I_ was crazy for even getting that close to the demon man. I didn't blame her; she hadn't seen the other side of him that I had…the side that provoked this smile, this blush. But nothing had happened…he just took my hand and told me he would return to me with those intense golden orbs that had never lied to me. Not a big deal, right? I found myself leaning against the wall, a smile on my face that did not help the whole "nothing happened" case. I shook the redness off my cheeks and rolled my eyes.

"What did you see?" I countered, raising an eyebrow as I set the kettle over the coals. She narrowed her eyes at me and they traveled down my body – to the kimono I wore. Crap. "O-okay, after I was in the water last night with the only clothes I own, it was too cold to sleep in them so he let me borrow this-"

"Keh, and you spent the entire night wrapped up in that fur thing he always carries around. Like being all huddled up between his legs wasn't enough." My eyes widened when Sango's mouth hit the floor and Miroku smirked knowingly. Yep, they totally thought I was some whoring wench, going around bedding demons. Lovely. I waved my hand around in the air, smiling so falsely didn't even believe myself, but when they all sat there and glared at me like I'd betrayed some unspoken law. It was then that I'd had enough of the red-kimono wearing demon.

I stood up, glaring down at the half-demon through the mortified look on my face. "Sit! Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, you peeping hanyou! I can't believe you spied on us!" I shouted, covering my blush as everyone looked at the scene of Inuyasha slamming into the floor and me dancing around because I was so embarrassed I couldn't sit still. He made it sound so much worse than it was and I didn't help accusing him of spying on something that was certainly nothing.

He jumped up, holding his fist up while he shouted. "It's not like you were trying to hide it or anything! The door was wide open, Kagome! I saw his grubby paws all over you and you didn't seem to mind one damn bit!"

"Oh shut up!" I glowered, staring at him with blue fire in my eyes. "SIT!"

I huffed, grabbing a towel and some sandals from my room. "I'm going to the hot springs. Sorry for the noise but some people don't know how to keep their mouths shut when they know what's good for them!" I spat down at the whimpering man who was being half-counseled by Kikyo. She was trying really hard to hold back her laughter while she rubbed Inuyasha's back.

"I'll come, too." Sango sighed and I knew this was just her way of getting information on exactly what happened last night between Sesshomaru and me.

Not as much as what looked like happened between her and the monk, being as Miroku requested that she come back to him safely. I smirked as she followed me down a trail through the forest. The trees were thick with snow on the outside, the grass was lush and frost-bitten, and sadly all of the blossoms around the peaceful village were dead. There was hardly any snow on the ground through here, but even less around the simmering water that looked so good right now. Sleeping with my back against a hard arm and chest wasn't so bad…definitely beat alone in bed, but I needed these muscles to relax. Sango watched with amused eyes as I folded Sesshomaru's kimono and sat it down on a snowless branch. I dipped into the water beside her and sighed so deeply I thought I' drown.

"So," she grinned evilly at me. "Tell me what _did_ happen?"

I smiled as I settled down in the hot water, sighing in appreciation for this awesome miracle of nature. "Nothing, like I said before. He saw I was soaked from the water and the snow and gave me something else to wear until my clothes dried. And since my stupid hut is not built very well for the cold, the breeze got to me and he told me to stay close to him so I wouldn't get sick. I can't believe you guys would think anything else _would _happen. Come on, he barely tolerates me as it is! He's even tried to kill me since he's been back." I narrowed my eyes at the memory of our first meeting. I wasn't afraid, but I expected at least a hug from the guy who'd been looking for me for half a year. "I doubt he wants to get a handful of Kagome anytime soon," I laughed when her eyes widened and she blushed at my openness about sex and all things love-related. They weren't happening for me so why couldn't I talk about them with a smirk?

She was quick to dismiss my nonchalance though. "Come on, Kagome. We all see how he looks at you. Ever since he saved you that night – which even got me panting and I was just watching how he did it – he's been different around you. Don't you see it? And not to mention what we saw this morning…"

I froze, my eyes wide. "W-what did you see?"

She smirked devilishly again, grinning at my fear-coated eyes. "Oh nothing, just you tying up his armor and handing him the swords…and everything that followed after that. I thought you'd kill him for putting his hands on you like that. Even Miroku was wide eyed at his boldness and the way you seemed to like it so much. Oh, and the whole 'I will return to you, Kagome' part after that almost made my heart explode." She giggled and I wanted to drown myself. They'd seen him touching my skin, practically intoxicating me just with the taste of his aura around me. I felt myself come alive at the feeling of his cool hands across my skin, bringing me closer to his chest as he snarled possessively at me. I let out an unsteady breath and fanned off my cheeks.

"Why does my life hate me?" I mumbled, glaring at the sky while Sango laughed and bathed herself.

Of course I saw the changes in the demon lord. He didn't hate me anymore, well he tolerated me. I was pretty sure he still hated me just for being human. "But all that doesn't mean he's in love with me, Sango, or that I'm in love with him."

_Liar._

Yeah, I was, but she didn't need to know my feelings for the stoic demon traveling wherever the hell he went today. "We're just two people pulled together by coincidence, nothing more and nothing less. I gave him an arm; he gave me a kimono and a promise to come back. It's not like we fucked or anything, totally not a big deal…" Stop rambling! I bushed when her face fell into a smug smirk of self-satisfaction.

"Anytime you blush like that it's more than a big deal. The last time was when you told me you loved-" She stopped herself with her eyes going wide when the obvious pain from those memories rippled across my face. I wrapped my arms around my body and smiled at the water when she started apologizing.

I touched the water with my fingertips, wondering why its heat was different than Sesshomaru's. In this heat I felt warmed and relaxed, but not electrified like my blood had been set on fire just by his gaze. "Exactly why I don't want to talk about it, Sango," I sighed as I thought of how much the stoic demon would laugh if I told him that I loved him as I had Inuyasha. Or maybe even worse, being Sesshomaru he wouldn't laugh he'd just cut my head off and tell me I was stupid when I was long dead in the afterlife.

"I don't want to be hurt again. I don't think I could take it so I'm gonna live as Kaede does, in a village that I can protect with my wisdom. But," I grinned over at her swollen stomach. "It looks like I've got congratulations to give."

"Congratulations?" She echoed, looking where I had and frowning like I was mistaken.

She didn't know! Oh, who better to tell her than a priestess that could feel the energy growing inside of her? "I'm guessing you and Miroku might have had a little encounter a few months ago, maybe your monthly bleeding stopped..." I pressed my cool hands against her stomach with implications in my eyes and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Her hands ran over mine and I moved them away, letting it all sink in before she was in tears hugging me.

I grinned at her nonsense and fearful stammering. "Oh! Kagome I can't believe it! What am I gonna tell Miroku? We aren't even married!" I snorted and looked at her with bewilderment. Like that monk would deny the woman that was to bear his child anything, especially if that woman was Sango.

"Come on, it's M-i-r-o-k-u. He's been in love with you since you met." That was entirely true. I could see the love for her in his eyes and his soul when they were together. She had the same emotion coating her aura, all happy and such. I held myself as she got out of the water, telling me that she had to tell him right away. She was beaming with delight, touching the small bump between her hips. I could see the happiness in her eyes and already knew what Miroku's reaction would be. He'd hold her and kiss her until she was blushing like I always seemed to be and honor her by wedding her.

Finally, my friends found themselves in each other. I sank down further into the mist, sighing with tears in my eyes. Happy, bittersweet tears. "Damn, I'm conflicted." I laughed at the forest noise and found myself selfishly wishing the same for my life: a man that loved me more than anything else in the world, a family growing inside of me as his cla-_hands_ ran across my swollen stomach.

But there wasn't such a man for me and I could never take one if there was. I glared at the broken jewel. This was my life now. _Protect the jewel, nothing else matters_. I took off the clump, glaring at it between my fingers.

Human men feared me because of my responsibility and power to kill them if they hurt me. Demon men wanted to eat me to take this _rock_ and become more powerful. I didn't know how I could smile when I was so sad, but I found myself grinning up at the morning sun through the clouds, my eyes shut peacefully while I meditated away the despondency.

And then, like the warmth of a summer's breeze, I could feel him. "Sesshomaru-sama you've returned to me." I opened my eyes and saw him standing in front of me, his eyes confused as he watched me run my hands down my chest, placing the rock between my breasts below the water. "We really need to stop meeting in such compromising places," I chuckled as I looked down at the unclear water, thankful that it was not clear like the first spring I met him at was.

"If you'd like I can go back to the village. But I cannot promise that Inuyasha would live until the night if I did." I smirked at him and shook my head. He could stay if he wanted to, it wasn't like he was gonna try anything, and I really didn't want Inuyasha's blood on my conscience. He was probably less inclined than Sango would be to peek anyway – and that was saying something.

I looked through the black curtain of hair at him, smirking playfully. "Would you like to join me?" I joked, shaking my head when his eyes became bored and he looked away. The only thing I didn't like about him was how he was always so serious. Nothing could ever be fun when he was concerned.

I stood up in the water, reaching for the shampoo lying across the frosty grass. I wasn't even worried about him staring at me while I was like this. I was human, which translated to disgusting in Sesshomaru's book. And I was sure he'd been with demon women that could melt a mortal's eyes with their beauty, so why would he even both taking the time to move his eyes toward a lowly human Miko?

"What is this?" I froze when his hand rested on the small of my back that peeked out of the water. He was touching the scar made from one of the first days I spent here. His voice was low, deadly, and I was glad that Nozomi had already killed the demon because I knew Sesshomaru would torture him for all time for touching me.

I shuddered when his electricity rushed through my veins and left me breathless. "A scar from a demon attack," I answered, blushing because he had a very clear view of my ass. "I saved a woman that was with child outside of the barrier. It didn't do much damage to me, but if it had hit her she and the child inside of her would have died."

His hands pressed against it again, tracing it when a blush spread across my cheeks. What was he doing? I felt my insides melt when he traced the scar gently and sighed against my shoulder. He was standing behind me now and I had sunk into the water below. "Do not make such foolish mistakes. If this village were to lose you it would be left compromised and destroyed by the demons that sense the spiritual power from the waterfall. I won't see you die from foolishness, Miko." I nodded at him, resolve had already settled into my chest. I would not make the same mistake I had back then when I had no idea what I was doing half the time.

"I promise you will not see me die such a death, Sesshomaru-sama." I smiled and stood in the water, reaching for the towel on the rock beside him. His eyes were wide and he looked away hurriedly, like he was trying not to. I wondered, holding the towel to my chest as he continued to stare at the forest with widened eyes, what he had seen that made him glare away from me…_like he was shy_. It wasn't like my naked state affected him, he'd seen me like this before and it didn't even make him blink. I shrugged, stepping from the water to where my clothes were across the clearing. Maybe it was a demon thing, but still…

I pressed my hand to his shoulder, still not seeing his eyes. "Sesshomaru-sama are you alright? Do you sense danger?" I wrapped the towel around my middle and went to grab my bow to stand beside him if there was such danger beyond the forest. I didn't see it, or feel it, but if he did that meant it was something more than dangerous.

I felt his claws graze across my hips and tremors of lust raged through me as I peered through the trees. "The only danger to you Miko," he whispered against my neck, "is me."

Before he could say anything else I turned to face him, only to catch myself right against his chest with my lips so close to his if I was to move any closer they would collide. I licked mine in anticipation, panting against him as his fingers went to where my towel ended and trailed upwards – underneath it.

I could feel every muscle under his kimono when I grabbed his arms; taste his skin on my tongue when my head fell into the crook of his neck. We'd been this way last night and I was too exhausted to hide my feelings, but this time I didn't _want_ to hide them. His nails raked across the skin of my back, giving me the most delightful goose bumps until they settled on my waist firmly. I shook my head when his eyebrows creased because of my actions towards him. He wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't take my life even if he was asked to, and we both knew it. I smirked against his skin, letting my lower lip graze the spot under his ear as I whispered into it. "I don't believe that."

He released me as soon as I'd spoken, shutting his eyes to look away from me. I was blushing, unable to believe the boldness lurking inside of me whenever he was around! What the hell was my problem? He walked over to the tree where his kimono gently swayed in the breeze and threw it to me. His eyes opened and I swore I saw a smile across his thin lips while he spoke. "Get dressed, Miko," he started walking away as he spoke and I tilted my head in confusion at his words. "There is someone in the village who wishes to see you."

**A/N: **

**Hehe :) So close! …but nope! :D **

**Review **

**-Panda**


	14. Hatsuyuki Matsuri

**A/N: Hey, sorry I'm late on this I've been in interview after interview this week and FINALLY I'm gonna start working for Microsoft! Yay! I'm excited hehe. Anyway, hope you like it :D**

**Title of this chapter literally means festival of the first snowfall of the season, btw. **

**And the song going through my head through this chapter, more toward the end (squee) is A Thousand Years redone by Tanner Patrick, originally by Christina Perri. So perfect for the moment coming up!**

**Chapter Sixteen **

**Hatsuyuki Matsuri **

I wandered through the forest, loving the feeling of the chill through my wet hair and found my feet along the path that led back to the village. What had just happened, between the demon and I? Had he come so close to touching my lips with his only to give me nothing? I blushed. _Of course nothing happened, he hates me, remember_? My eyes drank in the small village a few paces in front of me, and I felt seriously weird not greeting the villagers in my uniform. They all raised their eyebrows suggestively, but today was for celebration and I don't think they minded much that I was wearing a demon's royal kimono.

They were celebrating the snow as they had every year before I came here. They cherished the snow because it meant the secret had been protected for another year – and so had they. The children from the huts took my hands, making me dance in a circle around the white fluff at their feet. I laughed with them, falling into the snow when they made snow angels and threw snowballs at each other. I sat up and watched them all run around me, laughing and playing together. It made me wish I was a kid again.

Shippo jumped on my shoulder when the kids finally released me and hugged me close. I pressed a kiss to his cheek and he glared, but the smile didn't leave his face. "Mama we did it! We kept this place safe from all of those evil demons until the first snow of the year had fallen, just like Nozomi asked us to." He was smiling as he spoke this but I couldn't help but feel something creeping up on this happiness. Like something was watching over everything I was saying, dampening the joy I felt for keeping them safe if only for half of this year.

My eyes fell to the man over my shoulder and I knew exactly what that feeling was, though, because every move I made _was_ being watched. Sesshomaru was sitting beside his two headed dragon and toad ward, listening in for my reply to Shippo's enthusiastic praise. "Yeah," I smiled at my Kitsune and the stoic demon. When he glared at something else, I looked over and saw Sango sitting in Miroku's lap, curled into him. She smiled at me, a blush on her cheeks as the monk's hands ran across her stomach with a look of peaceful bliss in his eyes. "We did, and we even got all of our friends back." I knew Inuyasha and Kikyo were around here somewhere, even if I couldn't see their love-stricken auras around the village center. _Probably in a tree above all this happiness, smiling down on us._

"Lady Kagome!" A familiar high pitched voice squeaked from behind me and I turned just in time for Rin to jump right into my arms. I held her close, hugging the life out of her until she was panting and asking me to put her down nicely. I couldn't help it; I missed that toothy grin of hers. The last time I saw it was in the village and she was crying because I was going to die. I was glad the circumstances had changed.

I tickled her sides when I set her down and she giggled, but wrapped her arms around my legs instead of running away like every other child would have. "Oh how can you ask me to put you down, Rin? I've missed you!" I exclaimed, taking her hand in mine to lead her bare feet out of the snow so she wouldn't get sick. _So this was the surprise visitor here_. I gave Sesshomaru a smile in thanks that he promptly ignored, looking away from my face when I caught him staring at our encounter. Shippo perched on my shoulder, blushing down at the little girl who sat on the entrance of my hut – out of the snow.

"How have you been, Rin-chan?" I asked when she wrapped her arms around my middle and decided to stay right there for the foreseeable future. I didn't mind. Rin was like the little sister I always wanted but never convinced my mom to have.

She grinned up at me, her child-like innocence gleaming bright in her eyes. "I've been good, Lady Kagome! I loved the things you gave me, and look," she stood up and twirled around in the navy winter Yukata, "it fits perfect now!" I smiled at her, hoping that my own wardrobe had dried over the course of my bath and the midday sun rising into the sky. Shippo jumped off my shoulder, handing her a candy from my backpack stash, and she slipped on shoes this time before she went into the snow to play with him.

"So," Jaken glared at me, pointing his staff directly at my face. "You're the wench that stole Sesshomaru-sama's royal Kimono! What do you think you're doing wearing a relic of demon royalty, filthy ningen?" He shouted, waving the staff around furiously. My smile fell and I bit my lip; had I overstepped my limits wearing it? Would it have been better if I'd just stayed naked or gotten sick? Honestly, I didn't know what to say because he'd given it to me and I couldn't refuse it or I'd look like I didn't like him…but the toad didn't understand!

"I-I, well you see-"

"Jaken." Sesshomaru barked, glaring at the toad in a way I had never seen before. He even terrified me with that look and I felt my body unconsciously back up against the wooden outer wall of my hut. "Silence." The toad bowed several hundred times, begging for forgiveness and glared at me from atop of Ah and Un safely.

A claw was under my chin and I was forced to stare into his hard eyes. I didn't notice that I'd bowed my head at the toad. "Pay no mind to Jaken, Miko. If he makes another mistake like that I will kill him," I knew he wasn't speaking to me, but to the wide eyed, open mouth youkai that was falling into the snow because of his lord's cold words.

I looked at my uniform beside the fire, shrugging at his intense gaze. "It's fine, let me go change and you can have it back. I don't want to be the human that ruined your reputation, Sesshomaru-sama." I turned my back to him and I knew it made him mad that I had spoken those words.

I heard the small growl in his throat and bit my lip to hold in my smirk. Sometimes, it was just fun to poke at him until he exploded and – hopefully – pushed me into something and touched me again. I almost tripped because of the dark thoughts in my head, but grabbed my dried clothing and shut my bedroom door hastily, hoping he didn't see the red tint of my skin. I took off the sweet smelling robes hesitantly and looked over my scarred body. There were so many marks from demons and stupid mistakes when I was a child. _How could anyone ever love this…?_ I touched the white scars across my stomach and hips – all from demon attacks when I was thrown somewhere. I could still see the mark that the jewel made when it came out of me, marking me with its curse forever. I wrapped the white kimono around my waist, finding it looser than normal and tied the red hakama tighter – I almost looked silly. I'd cut the tie later to make the bow less…humongous looking. I folded the elegant kimono and placed it over my arm, opened the paper door, and saw him standing outside beside Rin who looked like she was whispering something in his ear. He glared down at the child, frowning at whatever it was she was saying with such a huge smile.

"I shall ask her," he responded shaking his head at her big pleading eyes. "Go play with the fox."

He knew I was already done changing and turned to face me expectantly. His armor was already removed, by the toad I presumed because he stood watch over it like it was a living creature valued above his life. I slipped it over his arms, surprising him when my hands purposely grazed the skin of his neck. I smirked up at his golden eyes innocently before bowing my head in a way he hated so much. I wasn't even going to try getting close to the toad to help Sesshomaru put his armor back on. I'd probably be burned and he would lose his life. "Miko," he growled when I was halfway through the front door.

My eyes left the snow and met his, and I couldn't help the grin across my lips at his restored state. He definitely looked different with the kimono hanging properly from his shoulders. "Yes?"

"I should like to talk to you. Is there somewhere we can go to discuss things privately in this village?" He wondered, looking around my hut like it wasn't exactly the place he wanted to talk to me alone in.

"Um," I blinked a few times, stumbling over the word _private_, but nodded. "Yes. The shrine, no one ever goes there except me and a monk but his wife just had a child so it should be empty. I will wait for you there, Sesshomaru-sama." I stepped out of the hut then bowing my head as I did only because I was thinking so hard. I shut the bamboo door when the toad jumped up to help him tie his armor back across his chest.

_Privately? _

It wasn't long before he was following me up the steps of the shrine. I could feel his stare on my back, seeping through my clothes to see me naked and vulnerable. I could feel him watching me as I lit a stick of incense and said a prayer to the Gods for another safe year in this home. I turned toward the demon lord who had sat down across from me on a cushion beside the table and saw he seemed to be measuring me, weighing me in his mind. "You truly have become quite accomplished, Miko." I knew he was referring to the studies I'd gone over with Nozomi, and I wasn't one to stare down a compliment from _this_ demon lord.

"Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama. I'm glad you think so," I grabbed the Shrine's tea pot after giving him a friendly smile. I stuck it over the coals in the fire pit beside us and turned toward his bored expression. I saw right thought it with a smile while I poured water into the pot.

"You're worried."

"You assume, Miko."

"I don't assume," I assured him as my fingers crossed the table to trace his pale blue moon. His eyes shut and if I wasn't mistaken I saw a smirk on those lips from my closeness. "Your eyes cannot lie to me, Sesshomaru-sama." I found my voice a breathy whisper and the lust built up in me from this morning came forward…at the worst possible time.

He nodded, giving way to what my mind already knew, and opened his eyes to see I had lowered my hand toward the scroll he carried. "I have dismissed the subjects from my castle. There was a disturbance, a miasma, coming from the eastern and southern lands when I went to retrieve Rin," he unfolded a map and I saw the different lands marked across it. "It has already spread through here, from grunt reports. It is searching for something – _someone_." I saw those golden orbs harden and his eyes fell to the spot the jewel was hanging at below my clothing. I knew he could see it – all powerful demons could sense its aura.

"Naraku," I realized, falling back on my haunches in defeat. He was looking for me and he had terrorized the lands of Japan in search for me and this _rock_. Sesshomaru saw the desolation across my face and I hated that I wore my emotions on my sleeve – out in the open leaving me so naked.

His claw went under my chin and I looked up to see he was sitting on his knees, a glint in his eyes. "I will keep this village safe, Kagome. He will not have you." He was so serious he actually called me by my name, but…

"That's not what I'm worried about," I laughed in disgust, standing up. I folded my arms across my chest and looked at the snow-stricken village. "He's been tormenting the entire island in search of me. I'm responsible for all of the death's he's caused, all of the people he's hurt-"

"Do not say such foolish things, Miko," Sesshomaru snarled and I found him standing beside me with reddened eyes. "You are guilty of only giving everyone around you happiness. The hanyou has harmed creatures long before you left and would not stop just because you had departed your village. Put mind to task and forget that beast." He growled at me, looking out toward the children and little demons playing in the village together. They were only able to coexist in this home because they bore no ill will toward one another. Even the village's general was a half-demon born of his full demon father and human mother. Sesshomaru meant that this was my purpose; my task was to keep them safe, not the rest of the world.

"You have a greater responsibility than slaying a hanyou with a god complex."

Softness had entered my heart and I smiled up at him with calmed eyes before I took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you, Sesshomaru-sama." His face expressed nothing as always, but even just a glimpse of his eyes showed me his uncertainty and desire for me to be this close to him. He _liked_ it, whether it was because he was alone in this world and the feeling of warmth from another creature gave him happiness, or it was just me, I didn't really care. So I didn't let go of his clawed fingers, and answered the reason for his reason of wanting to talk to me alone. "What is our plan, then?"

"If it would be _agreeable_ to you and the rest of the people here, I would like to bring my generals and armies toward the northern lands, to prepare for his assault." His eyes narrowed when I bit my lip and released his hand, thinking too deeply to concentrate on just him. Surely, Naraku could not sense my barrier and never would be able to penetrate it, but I knew that we couldn't stay inside of it forever. The moment we stepped away from it, he would sense us and the battle would begin.

So, Sesshomaru's proposal sounded more than reasonable, and as long as his demons did nothing wrong while they were in this village they would not be harmed. And the village was ever expanding. I could throw my barrier across a portion of the forest to accommodate them adequately. "Very well, send for your armies, I will speak to the villagers and expand my barrier so they will remain hidden. But you must warn them, Sesshomaru-sama," I took his hand in mine again and received the full effect his eyes had on me. It was almost hard to speak through the thickness of want in my throat. "If they do anything unacceptable inside of my protection they will be purified. That is not something I can control. And I will be calling on a few of my own friends who seek revenge against the hanyou to come." I had a few wolves and scattered demonic friends I knew would love the opportunity to sink their teeth into Naraku. Sesshomaru seemed to nod in acceptance, albeit suspiciously.

"I shall send Jaken to my general. They should arrive in a few days' time." Neither of us moved from the spot we were glued to. I knew I hadn't because I was unable to fight my desire, but what was his excuse? I found myself licking my lips when his eyes flashed to them. His parted but with a swallow, he turned away from me. "I will stay to train you, Miko."

That's when the confused schoolgirl look came back and I cocked my head to the side. "Train…?"

"Have you forgotten?" He actually smirked over at me; a smirk that I knew all too well was one he carried before he got exactly what he wanted. "We were to train you in combat a week after my departure from your time. I would say that said training is long overdue."

My cheeks flamed red, blushing at the anger that he still harbored deep in those pools of fire. "Have I apologized for worrying you before?" I knew that I had, but the look in his eyes told me that it was not enough. "I'd like to make it up to you, if I haven't." I whispered, knowing he could hear me when I turned toward him and stared at the strength of his jaw.

I felt hands on my upper arms and heard humor in his voice. "You have repaid me for your treason a thousand lifetimes over already, Miko. I know you have trained to strengthen your spiritual powers but you would be useless in close combat – and that is the only kind demons know."

Nodding, I gazed up at the demon before me. "I don't have a sword." Bad excuse. I could definitely wield any piece of metal that resembled one, and there were many in the village blacksmith shops.

He nodded, his face going cold again. "That is why I've had one forged for you. The sword resting safely inside of your hut was forged from my fang and your spiritual energy from this," he handed me the shard from his inner pocket. "Only you are able to wield it." He showed me his palms and I saw fresh burn marks across them. That was when I spotted the black sheath slung at his waist.

I scooped some water from the bucket beside us and ran is across his palms, using my energy to heal them. "Thank you," I commented when the angry red marks faded away and his pale skin was left gleaming from the water. "I will learn to use it with you and treasure it always." I took hold of the hilt and pulled it from his waist, bowing my head in respect this time, not jokingly.

"Hn," he looked away from me when I lifted my head and I caught a flicker of nervousness in his aura. "We shall begin tomorrow, but there is other business I have with you, Miko. Rin has asked me to inquire if you would accompany her to the festivities at the larger village outside of this barrier this night. She has heard a rumor of the festival from the village children who will be attending with their parents. I do not care to attend it, and you are the only capable human I know of with the power to keep her safe."

It was a festival known to me. The entire village went to the larger village at the base of the mountain to celebrate the Hatsuyuki festival. I hadn't planned on going, but neither of us could ever say no to Rin. "I'll take her," I assured him with a hesitant smile. "I've never been myself and I'm sure the villagers will all be in attendance tonight." There were a few reasons I didn't want to go, and I was sure Sesshomaru knew nothing of them.

A sixteen year old priestess with the duty of protecting the village above theirs was sure to be the conversation whenever anyone saw me. I didn't have anything formal to wear, but I guess that really didn't matter. Sesshomaru saw the distraction in my eyes when we headed toward my home again after a cup of tea. "Rin-chan," I scolded her playfully. "You could have just asked me to take you!" I giggled when she frowned and blushed.

"Well, I asked if you _and_ Sesshomaru-sama would accompany me, together!" She clapped with Shippo a few times while Sesshomaru and I stood silent at the front of the shrine. Together, like some sort of date with him? I flushed red and didn't even bother looking at him to see what he was thinking. I could already see his scowl, hear his words: "I will not take part in these foolish human festivities, Miko" I almost smiled at the way he was in my mind – ever the grumpy demon.

"Sesshomaru-sama has more important things to do, Rin-chan," I smiled at her disappointed face. "I think I've got the perfect Yukata for you though!" I changed the subject and rummaged through my bag when she squealed happily.

"You owe me," I grumbled at him when she went into my room to change into the purple Yukata and orange Obi. I dreaded going to this festival I had heard of all year long. It was said to be the most elegant and beautiful one the village had in its tradition, and I was going in uniform. I really wished I'd brought my own Yukata now, but my attention was taken away from the festival when I could feel him beside me. He smirked down at me, whispering in my ear.

"How would you like me to repay you, Miko?" I felt his claws graze the skin of my back and I shuddered, my breathing coming out in quiet pants as he hands traveled lower and lower, finally reaching the spot he seemed to adore just at my hip. I fought off the blush when Shippo's eyebrow rose and we were pulled apart when Rin shoved the door open and danced around the room happily. Was he trying to make me this way, so lust bound in his presence that I couldn't think straight? Not likely.

"You look beautiful, Rin-chan." I commented when she hugged me for giving her the warm winter Yukata. She slipped on her shoes for the snow and ran outside, Shippo hot on her trail. I watched them play, the sinking suspicion that he liked her growing in my chest, and felt Sesshomaru come to his stoic stance beside me.

We didn't speak, but watched the children we called our own play with the village kids – demons and humans alike. Something was placed in my hands, a small package that Sesshomaru held the other end of. "I know that nothing will be able to compensate what you've done for me," he gestured toward the left arm holding the other end of the package in my hands and before I could tell him that giving it back was really nothing for me, he continued.

"It was something my mother left at the castle of the west when I became its master. It never suited her," my eyes widened at his confession of what lie inside of the package, but also at the softness in the demon lord's voice. "She was too evil for it to suit her. It's yours now." He walked away from me before I could object, going to the toad and Ah-Un to set our battle plans into action.

Sango came over to me with widened eyes and bit her lip. She'd seen the whole thing. I was sure that the entire village had, and could see how red I was right now. "What is it?" She pushed me inside so I could answer her question and gaze suspiciously at the brown paper.

"Obviously it's clothing, his mother owned it once. I don't think she ever wore it though, he said she was too evil for it." I saw the look in his eyes in my mind and couldn't help smile at the insecurity and worry in them. I could only imagine the kind of evil she was if he was her son. I shuddered at the thought of a beautiful stoic female Sesshomaru.

"Too evil to wear something, is that even possible?" Sango smiled, shaking her head when I untied the paper and find a beautiful silk kimono spread across my fingers. My eyes were wide at the light blue fabric, adorned with soft pink cherry blossoms and I found my voice long enough to answer Sango's question.

Her delicate fingers ran across the light pink Obi while I thought back to what Sesshomaru had told me. "Think of a woman version of Sesshomaru wearing this and you'll know there is such a thing as too evil to wear something," I whispered, touching the soft silk while Sango stared down at it with her mouth hanging open. It probably cost more than my entire house did, and the remark from before had been confirmed when I saw it had never been unfolded. This Yukata had never been worn by any demoness or human woman.

"It's so beautiful," Sango whispered when I took it out and held it up to my body. How was it that it fit every curve of me? How was it that something his father had made for his mother would ever fit my malnourished body? I blushed and shook my head. This was too much.

"I can't accept this!" I whispered, stealing a peek at the demon who was still speaking to a pensive toad. "How in the world does he expect me to accept something that costs more than this entire village?" I was whisper shouting, sounding like a crazed woman more than ever now.

Sango shook her head with wide eyes. "You cannot give it back to him! He'll think that you don't like it, Kagome. It could really hurt his feelings, if he has any. He may be the demon lord of the west, but he is still a man." Her eyes had gone from worried to coy in the course of that sentence and I wanted to strangle her when she untied my uniform. "Try it on," she growled back at me and exited my bedroom without another word. I left standing there, naked, as the sun came to rest at the mountain peaks.

How had this day gotten away from me so quickly? How had I gone from giving back a silk robe that rivaled this one, getting comfortable as the Kagome I'd been since I left Inuyasha, to receiving a beautiful gift from a man I felt _something_ for that was meant for me to keep? I slid the see through fabric that went below a white kimono on over my skin, pulled the strings tight and found, with shaking fingers, the cherry blossom Yukata meant for the cold.

I let my hair fall down my back, out of the tie I kept it in all day and found my face had changed so much from the schoolgirl in her uniform. I tied the Obi and frowned at my reflection. I wasn't that little girl anymore, but a woman with curves and red lips that smiled. My hair was down to my waist because I hadn't cut it and no longer styled like a child's would be, but fell like satin waves of black across my back and my shoulders. I tied my hair up in a bun with the light blue ribbon left in the package, and found sideways bangs hanging across my face.

In an impossible to describe way, I felt different. Not beautiful like the other women of the village, but like I'd matured in the time it took me to tie my Obi. I was ready for this night, I had been for my entire life, and didn't realize it would take a demon lord's gift to bring it out of me. The sword he'd bestowed me with today lie across my mat along with my Miko uniform and I sighed nervously before I let myself open the paper door.

Sango's eyes were about ready to fall out of her head and I winced. "That bad?"

"You look stunning, Kagome." She whispered as she touched the fabric and handed me my bow and quiver. "Rin is ready to go and the rest of the village is headed toward the city as well." I nodded and stepped out of the hut, coming face to face with Rin and Shippo.

"Mama," he whispered as he touched the fabric. I was surprised he didn't jump up on my shoulder. "You look really pretty, Kagome-chan!" Rin responded, hugging me carefully before looking up at me with big eyes. I didn't look that different, they had to be exaggerating.

I rolled my eyes and took both of their hands. "Come on, we don't want Inuyasha to eat everything before we get there!"

I laughed when the hanyou grumbled that he'd heard me from where he, and a very elegantly dressed Kikyo walked ahead of us – I was almost envious of the way their hands hung between them. Sango and Miroku had even come along, he was dressed as the monk he was but she wore a dark blue purple over her armor – again their hands were hung loosely between them. I was almost glad to be adorned in these clothes when I saw how everyone else was dressed around me. I thanked the demon who had I hadn't seen in the excitement of everyone descending the mountain, but felt incredibly left out when the children ran ahead of me at the sight of the lanterns in the village ahead of us.

After looking around the happiness, I saw that I was the only person not walking beside someone they loved. Of course, Nozomi told me that this festival was for children and couples, not necessarily like the raves I went to back in my time for singles. And something inside of me told me that the demon lord would rather cut off his arm again than go to a human festival for something as trivial as snowfall, much less accompanying me.

We entered the village, welcomed by the festive people and I found myself staring at the beauty these mountains held. The village was at the base of the river, much like ours was, but this looked more like a glassy lake that ran into the forest. The huts were all lit with lanterns and beautiful decorations of snow. Life among these people was so important that they celebrated the seasons and prayed to their gods to keep things this way until the end of time. I lit my own candle and placed it at the base of a huge pine tree in the village among the others. "Thank you for bringing me here, to this beautiful village to protect the people and find myself." I whispered to the candle and the Gods watching down on us. "Thank you for bringing back my friends who I consider closer than my family. Please watch over Mama, Souta, and Grandpa, wherever they are in this life and bless them with happiness. And…" I found myself blushing as I spoke the last part of my prayer. "Thank you for bringing _him_ back to me." I set the candle down on the sacred shrine and smiled before I felt eyes burning holes in the back of my head.

"Look at her," the voices whispered. "Even in robes like that she can't hide that she's a common shrine-maiden…she's so ugly." I flushed at the words, feeling extremely uncomfortable in the expensive silk as four girls looked at me from their spot beside a man selling beautiful artwork. They glared at me, laughing when I blushed and I felt stupid for even showing up. I said my prayers to the Gods and if Rin would be safe here amongst the people and demons from the village without me I didn't really need to be here right?

"You there," the tallest girl called when I began to walk away. "Are you not the priestess that guards the village in the mountains?" I nodded my response and it had them laughing at me again, but this time they were surrounding me.

I looked up at the girl who'd asked and she narrowed her eyes. "I am the Miko of the village there, yes."

"Tell me," she smiled as she ran her fingers across the sleeves of my kimono. "How does a _common_ Miko come across silk like this?" I looked up to see Inuyasha and Kikyo glaring at the girls but I shook my head at them. This wasn't their problem and I certainly didn't want them involved. Inuyasha would probably kill one of the ignorant girls.

I thought of the demon lord and smiled down at the ground, though. He was too generous. "It was given to me," I responded, feeling annoyed as they all scrutinized me. I just wanted to go hide in my shrine naked until the world ended around me.

"By who?" Another laughed in my face. "It's not like you could ever find a man that would want to be with you. You're too skinny, scarred," she touched the scars on my exposed skin and I blushed. "Who would ever want someone so completely ordinary?" I felt tears edge my eyes but I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Before I could shove passed them, a deep voice rang through the girls and they parted as a very familiar face came to stand in front of me.

"Kagome," They all saw the deep blue moon, the magenta stripes across his cheeks, the royal silk robes he wore below his armor and their eyes widened. His arm wrapped around my waist and he looked at me with the sun in his eyes. "I was right about this," he almost purred against me, making the girls go green with envy. I couldn't help but smirk when I saw what he was up to. He was getting them away from me by taking me away from the embarrassment they caused, ever so discreetly. "It suits you," he whispered in my ear, making me flush and smile a thank you up at him.

"You will have to excuse us," he spoke toward the women around me politely, but our eyes never parted. "Lady Kagome and I have a previous engagement. Come," he took my arm in his and walked away from the gossiping group of girls who had become silent with what I assumed was jealousy. Sesshomaru was gorgeous, and any girl would be envious of the woman on his arm. I was just glad that he'd decided to repay me taking Rin to the festival with relief from that moment in my messed up life.

I waited until we were away from the Geisha-like women and sighed deeply. "Thank you," I mumbled as I wiped my eyes and the tears still in them. "It's not like what they were saying wasn't true, but it still hurt to have a reality check slammed right into my face." I laughed humorlessly and saw we'd made our way away from the festivities and toward the water that the sun was setting on. At least we were alone, and I was out of the scrupulous eye of the general public. Being the shrine maiden of a village was usually a responsibility given to a woman that was much older than I, so being so very innocent in my years would definitely deserve some mockery. I was surprised that it hadn't come sooner, actually.

"You are blind to yourself, Miko." His voice was cold again as he glared down at the water. "You only received their taunting because you are the most beautiful woman in this village tonight and they couldn't stand it." I couldn't see his eyes to know if he spoke the truth, but it didn't matter. Sesshomaru, the demon I'd once claimed to be unfeeling and hateful, just called me beautiful. I must've been hallucinating.

I looked down at the glassy water and saw the only beautiful thing about me was the silk ornamented around my shoulders. The girls were right: my pale skin was scarred, my cheeks were sunken in because I lost my appetite long ago, and I was…_ugly_. "I've never seen the value in beauty anyway," I grumbled mostly to myself as I glared into the water. "All beauty ends in time anyway."

"Yours will not." He spoke so softly I almost didn't hear him.

I rolled my eyes. "It would if I had any."

He walked over to me then, standing beside me in my reflection. His hands wrapped around my waist and his eyes were soft as he spoke to me. "Their beauty will wither with age and time, as all beauty does." He stared at me in the pool and I found my eyes half-closed and the blush on my cheeks hotter than ever. "I have always seen you as I see you this night, Miko. You are the only one, human and demon alike, that does not see that your beauty goes beyond face paints and elegant clothing."

My eyes snapped to his and I saw that his mask had fallen. He looked so sad, so alone just like me. I touched his cheek softly, feeling his head press into my palm when I did so. His eyes were fierce, true, and so warm. I'd never seen such eyes. My forehead fell against his because of the weight his stare put on me, and I found his lips closer than they had ever been. I wanted to taste him, take him in my arms and never let go of this of side him that trusted me enough to let the façade fall. I was weak to those eyes; they made me so strong but broke me with one glace like this. I could feel his heart beat below my hand resting above his kimono; I could feel his aura wrapping around mine like his arms did. I could taste his honey and jasmine scent across my tongue. I wasn't afraid anymore, I wanted this. I wanted the demon man in my arms.

I shut my eyes when his closed and found my heart pounding in my ears as we neared each other. His warmth was so close…

"Kagome," a raspy voice pulled us both out of the trance and I yelped as I was yanked out of Sesshomaru's arms, my eyes met with teak ones that held a different kind of happiness. "My dear Kagome, I've finally found you!" He sighed deeply as he pulled me into his arms and nuzzled my neck shamelessly.

I watched as Sesshomaru's mask went back up and he glared the most evil glower I'd ever seen at the man holding me tightly. The marks on his cheeks were jagged, his eyes flashed red and his canines flared furiously. I hoped he noticed my arms hanging loosely at my sides. The smile I gave the wolf that had just ruined the most romantic moment of my life was beyond fake. "K-Koga, w-what are you doing here?"

**A/N: **

**Hehehe, a reviewer for the last chapter read my fricken mind for this chapter, bringing Koga in! **

**Review it and tell me how much you hate me for tearing them apart. :)**

**-Panda**


	15. Peace

**A/N: Sorry it took longer than normal, I did this over like 5 times cause I didn't like it haha. Now, I enjoy it and I hope you do too :D**

**Chapter Seventeen **

**Peace**

"Isn't it obvious," he smirked against my neck before bringing his face even closer to mine. I wondered how he managed to ignore the growling from the demon behind us, I know I couldn't. "I came to rescue you and bring you back to my lands. I know Inuyasha's got that other woman, whatever her name is, so you can finally be all _mine_." My eyes widened. He was serious!

I could see his lips descending on mine and I shook my head, whimpering. I didn't want it to be this way! I didn't want to kiss this wolf in front of Sesshomaru or anyone else in the world, but _especially_ not the demon I was more than yearning for right now. _Sesshomaru, now would be a good time to show your dominance, not alone in the middle of the forest_! Koga pulled me closer when I edged away from him, holding my hands up to his shoulders. Couldn't he see how uncomfortable I was? Where the hell was Ayame when you needed her?

As if he could read my mind, I was torn away from the wolf and set on the ground behind Sesshomaru near the water. I winced when his clenched fist grazed Koga's cheek, knocking the intruder of our moment back a few hundred feet. "You will never touch her again, wolf." I saw his eyes were glowing red, his pupils had turned bright blue and his purple marks were jagged across his pale cheeks. I grabbed the tightened muscles across his forearm and he glared down at me, but the demon was backing away from a fight at the sight of my worried eyes.

"Damn it Kagome, what's with you and Mutts?" Koga ran his mouth off when he got up again, so much like Inuyasha would have, and I felt my own temper flare between the two males who oozed dominance in their stares.

"I am no mutt, wolf. I am the ruler of the western lands; my heritage goes back over ten thousand years." I almost smiled at his controlled voice as he spoke of his ancestors, a pack that reigned over Japan long before the wolf demons had. Why did his voice instill pride in me when it wasn't my family? Why did it make the heat in my stomach roll lower when he asserted his status? I was blushing before long and Sesshomaru looked down at me questionably before turning his attention back to Koga.

Koga huffed and rolled his eyes. "A royal mutt then. Well listen up Sesshomaru, I'll touch Kagome when and if I want to. She's _my _intended!"

Sesshomaru tensed beneath my touch like the very skin touching his dishonored him. He glared down at me, his dark eyes swimming with confusion. "I am not," I spoke to them both, but mostly to the wary demon man that was so close to me again. "You are intended to _Ayame_. In fact, what are you doing in the northern mountains? Running from her again?" I accused, poking a finger at him in the air. Sesshomaru wouldn't let me go close enough to shove it in his chest, he was already growling protectively because I was standing beside him instead of behind him.

"I-I was not!" He insisted, coming to my side faster than lightning. He was kneeling with my hand in his. "I was intended to you first, Kagome. I'm in love with you and I know you feel something for me, too. I want to make you my woman and live with you forever." My eyes had gone wider than before, my mouth formed a tiny line from the embarrassment and there was a blush across my cheeks – a blush that was there only because of the way he was making a damn fool of the both of us!

"I-" I was cut off by another fist connecting with the wolf's face, but this time he flew across the water and hit the side of the mountain loudly. My eyes were wide at the sound of cracking knuckles beside me and the huff in his controlled breathing. Koga didn't get up and my heart raced with worry for a minute. He might have been irritating and bothersome when it came to wanting to be with me, but he was still my friend and I loved him like one. Was he okay? I turned toward Sesshomaru and saw his face was normal again, the marks were no longer jagged and hateful, his eyes had turned to a melancholy golden hue, and his demon wasn't visible in his face anymore.

"Fear not, Miko." I shuddered at the ice in the voice at my ear. "Your intended is not dead."

Intended? I almost laughed. I smiled up at Sesshomaru's suspicious eyes, shaking my head as my hand went to his forearm again and touched the smooth skin there. I grazed the jagged marks in wonder and his breathing calmed. He still glared down at my hand, but that was something he always did when I got close to him. "He's-"

His hand, oozing with green poison wrapped around my neck and I was held off the ground. He snarled the words. "You will be ready at dawn to begin your training." He growled, ripping my hand from his arm and dropping me to my feet. I ignored the dull throb of my skin healing itself. "I will not keep you from your wolf any longer," he spat, jumping away from me before I even had the chance to explain Koga's delusional way of thinking. My heart cracked in my chest, not because of the chill of his voice but because of the betrayal I saw in his eyes, his trust for me was diminished. The hurt that lurked inside of them because Koga made it sound like we were long lost lovers distanced through time made my heart beat sluggishly in my chest.

He was gone before I even had the chance to explain myself. I stood here, the silk kimono blowing in the wind when I heard a snarl of a howl erupt across the sky: I was sure the entire north had heard his pain as a sound of anger, unlike I did. And then I didn't feel his aura anymore, which only meant he'd already made it back to the village or had traveled more than a hundred miles away from me. Either way, it was too excruciating to think of and made my chest fissure in two. He hated me again. I fell to the smooth rock beside me with a thud and found tears in my eyes as I stared across the water where Ginta and Hakkaku had gone to collect his unconscious body. I still didn't exactly understand what had just happened. How had I come so close to tasting those lips to having them snarl and push me away? I shut my eyes and blushed at the way he whispered my name just before our flesh almost connected. He wanted it too.

I was startled from my thoughts when the two wolf demons dropped their unconscious leader beside me, and I felt my eyes roll at the way he sprawled across the ground like a mutt. "Why did you bring him here?" I whispered, knowing they would hear me over the sound of festive humans behind us. They hadn't even witnessed the scene of these two demon men fighting over me in the night. But that was impossible, anyway. Sesshomaru would not fight for me, I was certain of that. I was sure he'd rather mate a brainless demoness whore than spend more time with me than he had to. Why the hell would he ever want to be with a useless human Miko? That almost kiss had to have been a moment of weakness for him, a moment he regretted. For me it was the only strength I'd found these five months away from him and the only thing I didn't regret in all of this.

Ginta answered, rubbing his neck. "H-he could smell you, Kagome-nissan. He insisted that we come here after we ran away from Ayame and Grandfather, even though we could smell Sesshomaru-sama too..."

Exactly as I had expected, he was running from Ayame's insistencies. My mistake this night was being away from the village: it was just the excuse he needed to come ruin everything that I'd ever hoped to build between Sesshomaru and me. His purpose was to tear me away from another "mutt" before I could fall in love like I had with Inuyasha. I didn't love Sesshomaru; I blushed at the words love and Sesshomaru together in one sentence, but it was only because it seemed so impossible to love him…right?

I watched the pale moon in the sky. The sun had finally set and left the land in the guidance of the moon: the moon that was so much like the one across_ his_ forehead when I'd gotten so close to the warmth of his lips. I smiled at the water when one of my tears fell into it and another aura rubbed against mine peacefully.

"Hey."

"Hey," I responded, leaning against his shoulder when he sat beside me on the rock. This grudge had been settled before he even came to me with words of reconciliation. I wasn't mad anymore and he was happy, so that was all that mattered. He smiled and shook his head at me, like I was the one who'd caused all of this, like it wasn't simply the grudge between the dog demons and the wolves…maybe he was right.

"Sesshomaru's been hurt before, ya know." My ears perked up and I turned to face the half-demon, his half-brother sitting beside me in the moonlight of the river.

That was one I hadn't heard before. "Hurt? Is that even possible?" I laughed, thinking of him being injured for longer than a second. I'd imagined it only for a minute and I could already feel his cold eyes on me, saying 'I am not weak like you, Miko. I do not get injured as humans do.'

"Course it's possible. I was alive when it happened, living in the castle with him because I didn't really have a place to go and my mom wanted me to bond with him or something." I tilted my head to look at him and he nodded. "It was a demoness, of course."

"A woman that I couldn't even begin to compare with…"I grumbled, narrowing my eyes to slits as I glared into the forest. I was human, ugly and scarred just like the village girls had said. Sesshomaru, I blushed, he called me beautiful, but what did he mean? He hated humans, now he was calling one beautiful? What was I supposed to believe?

He snorted. "Why would you even want to? Anyway, she said she loved him told him they'd be together forever, and they had been since they were kids so he didn't doubt her or nothing. They were gonna be mated and everything…" _Oh Inuyasha why are you telling me this_? I was blushing so bad! I didn't wanna know about Sesshomaru's love life!

…did I?

"But on the night they were to be mated," even Inuyasha's voice had taken on pity and I felt my chest clench for the resigned demon. "She cheated on him with his best friend – a general from the Dragon Clan of the East and he walked in on them consummatin' the deal, if ya know what I mean." I saw the darkness in his eyes and the way he shrugged it off just as quickly as horror spread across my face for Sesshomaru. What did he do? Was he heartbroken? "Sesshomaru was never the same again. First dad betrayed him and his mother by being with my mom, second this demoness that he's loved through his entire life betrays him with his best friend and now…" He stared at me with a smirk and a shrug of his shoulders when I pointed at myself like I was the guilty one. "He's come to trust another woman. And that woman has betrayed him with a mangy wolf, in his mind at least."

"Betrayed him? I don't belong to-"

He snorted his response, shaking his head as his arms gathered beneath his fire-rat robes. "Maybe in your head, Kagome, but dogs are different than humans. When we find a person we can connect with the way I've connected with Kikyo, the way he's connected with you – somehow – and it lasts forever. That bond can never be broken, so get used to seeing that cold stare 'cause he ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon."

A…_bond_?

My eyes shut and the image of a woman dressed as the village miko with lavender eyes sprung from my memories, calling to the demon man of her heart. Hakura fell in love with a demon, and he fell in love with her…so it wasn't impossible, was it? Sesshomaru bonded with me through trust; he trusted me to not hurt him like those other women had, even if it was just as a companion. _Well, he certainly has a way of showing his affection_. I rubbed my neck where he'd grabbed me and oozed his poison before fleeing. "Thanks, Inuyasha," I mumbled as I stared up at him, "for everything. Without you I would have never gotten where I am and…I'm sure you understand that there's something I have to do right now."

He blushed, mumbling the same sorry that he had since we'd met up. I hadn't paid much attention to it, because I felt that even thought he'd hurt me so much was gained. There was nothing to forgive. He hurt me like hell but if it wasn't for that pain this moment, this life, wouldn't exist for me. I owed him this life. "Yeah, yeah, go calm the asshole down. Kikyo and I will look after Rin."

I kissed his cheek, smiling at the flush across his cheek and Kikyo's laugh where she danced with Rin. I was already running through the forest when I yelled back at him, a smirk on my lips for him snooping in on whatever was going on between his older brother and I. It was sweet, and barely shoved him into the ground, but I couldn't help the delicate sit that spilled from my lips to his cute dog ears.

* * *

I will not love her. I will never care for her more than I had foolishly let myself previously. I would not become weak. I would not be like my father. "I will not." I spoke feverishly, growling in the forest around her village where I found myself pacing through the pine trees. Her scent marked these trees, her taste was stored inside of them and it swirled around me shamelessly kissing my skin and beckoning me back to her. Back to those eyes. That smile…

Back to tear apart the wolf that held her in his arms and touched her hips, even tried to kiss her all while I watched murderously from afar. Her heartbeat unevenly as she smiled at him – just as she smiled at me. I was still snarling, still growling because of this unbelievable hatred dripping from the center of my body – the desire to tear him limb from limb. My demon could not stand the rage. He forced me into my true self, the demon everyone on this island feared and respected above all others. Everyone feared me; they ran and screamed at the sight of me like this, as they should have. But she…I stared down at my left and, the limb she had held not an hour ago, in wonder at the heat stored from a single touch.

Her eyes…she did not fear me. Her smile…she did not run from me. Her heartbeat so loudly like wild drums…she wanted me near her. Could it be true then that she was intended to another man, with the way her smile stirred us both to passion? Passion because I wanted her, I wanted to taste her so that I might get her out of my head before her warmth remained and poisoned me. My eyes calmed and the air around me stilled to its natural state of peace that her village always maintained.

My demon wanted the wind to whip around and slash through her, see her blood on his claws for her betrayal toward me, watch her beg for me to not end her life. But I could not even think of doing such a thing. I could not kill her. I tried in vain previous nights, and even on this one…and I could not take her life. It would be so easy, a flick of my wrist would sever her head from her body and that smile would no longer haunt me. I allowed her to get close to me and now I was standing here, forsaken in this wind for my idiocy. There was something between us…something in this wind…and whatever it was I would dissolve it before she made me weak. "You claimed that your human female," I growled toward the heavens, "gave you strength. I see no strength in this emotion I have for her, only weakness."

Poison dripped from the claws that my mind saw coated in her blood and I tore down half of the forest with one twirl of my fingers. If I could tear down the might oak trees without feeling anything, why could I not kill her? Such strength, such power could not be defeated simply because she smiled at me. My power would not be defeated by any man, demon, woman, miko…goddess. I shut my eyes and let her lingering spicy perfume creep into my skin, dipping past the poison to leave my claws untouched and unstained with her blood. She would not defeat me. I had to get her smile out of my mind. I had to banish her laugh from my memories before it drove me mad with its terrible warmth and hope.

Then I saw him, standing before her in the beautiful kimono by the moon stained lake, and I was furious. I wanted to tear him apart for touching her hips, holding her so closely. I wanted to lock her away in my chambers for the rest of time – for my own personal use only. I wanted to take her in my arms. I wanted to finish what had been started beside that river with all of those humans, what had started in her time as I lay above her in the bed. I wanted to taste her and get her out of my mind when I cringed from the flavor of human across those pink lips. She was nothing but human…nothing but a weakness

I stared down at my claws, the thought of destroying it painful inside of her barrier. Why had I searched for her?

I knew that the reason for my desperate need to find her was not the sword called that out to her when it was with me. If it had been that I would have had it destroyed by Totosai and moved on with my existence. It was not because Rin begged me to find her. She simply asked me where I was when I came back from the village empty-handed three days after my departure. She had no knowledge that Kagome was to stay and train in my castle.

I knew, even now as I cursed her existence, that I longed to see her smile so lit up only for me. It touched me, from the moment I saw it on her lips after I'd saved her from Naraku's beast. I longed to taste her scent on my tongue, taste her lips that belonged to only me, for she had enticed me in her bed beyond this time. I longed to see her happy – beside me and no other man because I had seen her tears and felt pain from them.

My demon desired her as its mate and I desired her as the only woman I had come to trust in more than five hundred years. A trust she had broken this night when she did not tell me of her intended mating. If I would have known I would not have dishonored her. I would have left alone whatever there was between us to train her and have gone back to my castle after the defeat of Naraku. I would not desire her lips. I would not desire to see her scream my name as I ravaged her. I would not succumb to this weakness for a human woman that plagued me even when we were apart.

Wandering through the ghostly village, I found myself perched atop the staircase of the shrine. The humans all had descended the mountain to accompany the other three villages in this celebration. I could see the lantern lit town from here, I could see the human's frivolous activities of dancing together, feel their happiness and…the _love_ they had for one another.

Love was such trivial nonsense.

It made a man weak before battle, made a man blind to the cruelty of everything else in the world, limited him from becoming great. I looked down at the snow covered lands and remembered a time in my youth that I swore to myself that I would never become so weak. I would not allow myself to love because I had seen what love could do. My mother had been betrayed when she loved no other, and as well as she tried to put up a perfect mask I could feel her pain, see her tears, like they were my own. And years later, I found myself betrayed the same way she had been by my father. But I would not shed tears for a whore.

I had not shed tears since the day my father left the castle of the west. I vowed in that moment that I would never let a thing as trivial as tears weaken me and that was a promise I would never break. "Father," I glared at the heavens, my voice calm as I remembered her touch. "Did your human woman betray you? Did you desire to kill her but found that you could not?" I glared at the poison pooling around me from the rage I felt for that miko.

_You cannot kill her_. His voice was so smug, so sure.

"You doubt my strength?" I cracked my knuckles with a sinister smirk that only graced my lips when death was near.

_I doubt your weakness. _

"I bear no weakness."

He showed me her face in my memories, her smile as she wrapped her body around mine. I was foolish to think I had no weakness. She was my weakness. She had been from the moment I saw her beside Inuyasha so long ago. Now she was a different woman. An accomplished miko in her own right, a being so strong she could tear a hundred demons apart with a simple barrier. How was she ever considered weak, how did I ever consider her weak? She left everything she knew for the happiness of others.

_Surely no harm can come from the strongest demon in the lands mating the strongest human across them. _

"I will not mate her." The very thought was laughable. Pathetic hanyou pups would be the result of any such mating, with any human woman.

And I found myself at the base of a tree of ages: a tree of time that lived when everything else changed. I could feel her warmth around it, embracing me, taste her skin on my lips as they kissed me, and finally when my eyes opened my hand rested on the tree and she stood beside me. I couldn't find it in myself to glare at her tear-stained cheeks and her reddened eyes. _Why have you been crying_? I fought the impulse to reach my fingers to her cheeks and wipe away her sadness. She smiled and placed her hand beside mine on the tree. I could feel her electricity pooling around my extended limb.

"You know there's a legend of this tree that goes back to the priestess that created the barrier. It's said that she met her true love beside this tree, a demon man." She smiled when my eyes narrowed at her accusation.

I nodded for her to continue when she gathered the silk around her closer for warmth. My arms removed themselves from the tree and wrapped around her body, keeping her warm in the chilled air around us. If her intended wanted her to freeze, it would not be on my conscience. She shivered, but rested her head against my chest. I almost pushed her away because of the stench of wolf across her skin.

"Hakura, the priestess that the village was named after, would always come to this tree of ages, in the nighttime when her mother slept and the moon hung low in the sky," she ran her hand down the tree and smiled at it fondly, "and she would talk to a man that lived on the other side of a tree that was brother to this one. A man she that talked to through his youth and through hers."

My eyes tapered as her tale spoke of another god tree with this same scent that was known to me – in the grounds of the western castle. "They talked until she turned seventeen, speaking of what you would call _nonsense _and finally fell in love with one another – even though they had never spoken in the day or seen each other's faces. She swore herself to him because he was the only man that she trusted and loved so deeply. But when she came here on her seventeenth birthday, he told her that he was to go into battle if a treaty wasn't met in the north and that she should find a human man to love until they could be together in the afterlife."

"She cried and damned him for causing her so much pain with the suggestion, and refused to love another." My eyes slid shut as I came rest my head against hers, unable to maintain my mask any longer. I longed to be close to her. I listened curiously as her heart skipped a beat, but she continued onward with the tales of her ancestor. Her heartbeat began to settle in her chest and I wondered why telling a tale of a woman falling in love with a demon man could instill such peace in her.

"So when he left, she swore herself to this life, the life of a priestess that protected this village. She carried out her duties, but still every night she went to the tree hoping he would hear her cries and soothe her with his voice again. It was in the spring when sightings of demons coming from the west were reported to her mother. She knew the demons had no business with a village in the mountains, and might pass through on their way to the Tortoise Kingdom of the North because it was a few days journey up the road through the village.

"Hakura was in the fields harvesting the spring herbs the day they came into the village, and the master of the army stopped in shock when he had seen her. She was more beautiful than any human or demoness, the way she stared up at him in wonder." The Miko pointed toward a painting inside of the shrine of a maiden I thought to be a goddess of her religion. That was the ancient priestess? I looked away from her deep violet eyes when the Miko continued a story that was well known to me, but this part, this human part, had never been told throughout my lands. "He asked her where this village was located in relation to the youkai castle, and she explained that it was another few days' journey to the castle of the north. She smiled at him and offered him and his armies shelter for the night if they so wished. He accepted her hospitality and set up camp in the field beyond the village.

"That night she went as she had every night to the god tree and begged for her lover to come back to her in voice and soothe the worry in her breast. He had promised that he would create the treaty with the northern lands and come back to her if that was what destiny planned for them, but it had been many years and he hadn't returned to the tree. She cried at the base of it until the moon was very low in the western sky and the sun peered across the eastern lands. It was her cries that had woken demon lord of the armies. He had heard her sobs and came to see why she cried so painfully – like she had been injured. She looked up at his golden eyes," I saw her glance at me and found myself trapped in her aqua stare. She stared into my soul, a thing I thought I'd lost long ago. I was freed when she looked up at the dead tree, and my gaze followed. "And so she spoke of her lover, the man beyond the tree in a land unknown to her. The demon lord smiled at Hakura, running his hands through her long hair with his claws as she cried against his armor, and when she calmed he took her hands in his and stared into her eyes so deeply she thought she'd drown.

"'My dearest, love,' he spoke to her with such vigor and she saw tears in his stoic gaze that she had never seen in any other youkai. 'I've never left you.' He touched the skin above her beating heart and let his lips connect with hers like magnets. They parted, but only just. 'I have been here this entire time, locked away inside of you so that I might watch over you and love you as you have so loved me. I've never loved any other and I never shall.'"

Kagome smiled when she saw my widened eyes staring down at her in disbelief. A youkai man would admit his love for a human so easily, so freely? "The demon lord marched on the next day, a promise on his lips as they locked with hers that he would always return for her. The next time he came for her, he would take her as his mate in this life. They would be together forever. The Tortuous clan signed the treaty when he explained that he had found even ground with the humans in the villages in the north because of the priestess that lurked in his heart. They said if he was to take a human mate the treaty would stand for all time, but if he were to back down from his word and take the demoness that he was intended to, they would go to war."

I knew the youkai side of this tale after this point. My grandfather promised to keep his word and take his intended mate, my grandmother, but the north betrayed us. Was this Hakura woman the reason for their betrayal and countless deaths among the north and west? Was my grandfather meant to be with her and not the demoness of the sun? "He went back to the village and took her as his mate after that night," Kagome smiled at me but I could still see her sadness. A sadness I did not understand. I felt rage that my grandfather would betray our lands in such a way, if it had been him she spoke of in the story.

"She became pregnant with his child, a legitimate heir to his lands, but something went wrong..." My eyes had flashed red at the mention of a hanyou ruling over my lands and I only let her speak to humor her. These tales were all lies; I was not to be born of a hanyou father, not to be born weaker than every other demon on this island. My father was born of the demoness of the sun and I of the demoness of the moon. The only hanyou was born of my father's weakness and my grandfather hated him for it. He despised humans.

She spoke words that both soothed the notch between my eyebrows, and made my heart stop beating below my armor with what felt very much like grief. "They lost the child three moons into her pregnancy and the demon lord was so stricken with grief he could not bear to look at her face anymore. He accused her of poisoning the child to get rid of the demon side it carried so she could be with a human general that had his eyes on her. She did not love any other man. She saw no lines between human and demon. She would never do such a thing, for she loved the lord of the west and the baby that once grew inside of her, but he was so wrought with anger that he did not believe his mate.

"He left her," the Miko's voice was cold now and it even made me feel desolate in this snow-laced shrine. "He betrayed her with a demoness woman that you know as your grandmother and created a full demon heir – your father. But Hakura was never the same after the departure of her lover. She had become cold and distant toward the people – she did not play with the children in the village, she did not harvest the herbs in the garden. She created this barrier when the war of the North and West began. She died months later, from grief and fever, but not before calling on her sister to take on the responsibilities of the village. The barrier, this barrier," Kagome looked up at the sky, "has been in place ever since. It was put here so that no other woman could feel the pain of falling in love with a man of betrayal. Betrayal inside of this barrier is purified, in humans and demons…all because of this." She smiled as she reached down, pressing her backside very firmly into my hips. I shut my eyes and growled at the action, until I saw that she had picked a flower growing at the basin of the tree.

"This little flower is made into tea." She spun the white and yellow flower between her fingers and I glared at it. How had this caused my grandfather to betray the woman? "And Hakura made this tea every morning and night. It wasn't known to her, but this herb, this tea, can cause termination when a woman is pregnant."

Her voice had taken on a soft quality and I smelled salt in the air around us. My hands ran from her hips to her cheeks, wiping away the moisture as she turned toward me and held the small flower to my chest. "All of that pain because of a flower."

"Foolish," I agreed, taking the bud in my hands to crush it. My palm rested against her cheek and when our eyes came to rest upon one another she pressed into it. Her little hands ran up my forearms, coming to rest upon my hand that could crush her right now.

She smiled at me, shutting her blue eyes as she looked at the ground. "You shouldn't look at people like that," she whispered, blinking away more moisture.

"I have only ever stared at you this way." That was not a lie. I had never taken the time to gaze upon someone and appreciate something as trivial as the uplifting of a lip.

"Then you should not look at me like that," she corrected, shyly glancing up at me through her thick eyelashes.

_Foolish miko; if I could tell you how many times I had said those very words to myself, you would probably be rotting away in the ground of this shrine_. My chest crippled at the very thought and I rose her face to meet mine with one clawed finger. "I try not to," my voice matched hers in this quiet night – soft and exposed. I pressed my forehead to hers when she flushed pink, drinking in her scent as it rolled off of me in waves. "But I am weak."

She shook her head and the motion separated us, but only just. "You could never be weak," she seemed to hesitate as I moved away from her to see the indecision in her watery blue pools. Did she doubt me, after all of this time I still hadn't killed her and she'd given me every chance, but did she still doubt my loyalty to her? "…_love_ does not make a man weak. It makes him strong before battle if in the right arms and gives him the ability to look past all of the bad in the world and see the good. It can give a man limitless power and lead to greatness. Sure, love can make someone weak…but within that weakness there is strength beyond compare."

She spoke of strength. She spoke of weakness and compared them to finding peace in this life. I knew not weakness or strength as I stared into her eyes and found my center of the universe waiting to be claimed. I knew not the feeling of solitude. I knew nothing beyond the warmth inside of her eyes, and with a groan from my chest, I succumbed to them.

My lips dipped down to graze hers, tasting the flesh across mine. She tasted like nothing of this world: not human, not demon…not even a mix of the two things combined. My thumb brushed across her cheek as I sat dazed in her stare, my lips hovering so softly against hers. I wanted her. I wanted to get this madness out of my mind. I needed to. "Kagome," I warned, begging her to just move away from me, but it only spurred her to come closer and press her full breast against me.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered my name gently against my mouth and I could stand the distance between us no longer. My other hand gripped her waist firmly and I closed the remaining space firmly, tasting the spice and lust across her skin greedily. My demon rejoiced as it took me over, burning my skin with passion. I pressed against her harder when she gasped and wrapped her arms around my neck, sending me into a state I'd never been in – I wanted to claim her, mark her as mine now. It was like fire had spread across my skin, like the sweetest water from a stream of the gods had brushed against me and tore through the mask I held firmly against my face. I was bare to her; she saw everything in my eyes.

The taste of her honeyed lips did not repel me, it did not make me want to kill her as I so hoped it would, and it did not permit me to hate what she was any longer. Her tongue lapped against my lips, begging me to give her more and I allowed it, tasting her cold tongue as it fought with mine, twisting until I finally found dominance and even more lust brought my manhood to attention, ready for her touch when her soft voice groaned against my lips. I pressed against her pink mouth once more, ending the softness around my vision, blacking out the peace inside of me, and rested my moon against her pale skin once more as her breathing calmed. My heartbeat matched hers, screaming for more in the silence of the abandoned village.

My lips found their way to hers once more, and then again…and again, brazenly taking everything that was so forbidden to me. She looked up at me when we parted and I placed her back on the ground softly. My arms were stubborn as I pulled them away; they only longed to be wrapped around her soft curves. I couldn't look at her softness, I couldn't watch her eyes set fire to the snow around us or I would not be able to stop my demon from claiming her and shaming me. I would not be able to stop myself. "Be ready at dawn, Miko," I warned lowly as I turned from where she stood with her hand against her chest and a blush across her pale cheeks.

I walked away from her lust, her smile, and her dazed expression…and found the peace that her lips had given me remained.

Strength…in weakness.

**A/N: **

**Finally. It only took seventeen chapters, Sesshomaru -_- **

**And did you know, Camomile tea can cause abortions? Crazy, right? Pregnant ladies, don't drink it! D:**

**Review it :P**

**-Panda**


	16. Queen of Hearts

**A/N: Okay, thank y'all for the reviews, I love them and really do read them all on my handy-dandy HTC :D Just responding to another one in an AN because the reviewer was all stealthy with guest mode. ****Kagome's eyes are brown in the anime only****, just to explain why they are blue in this story. In the original manga created by Rumiko Takahashi, they are blue. **

**Also, sorry for the lateness, but I've devised a strategy to get me writing instead of dancing randomly cause the music on my iTunes is all techno and electronic, mixed with metal. I'm personally thanking the gods of screamo music, and Asking Alexandria, as I've had a steady playlist consisted of it that's let me write this so smoothly. Listening to Akon smacking asses just didn't work out too well -_- **

**Enjoy :D**

**Chapter Eighteen **

**Queen of Hearts **

How was the action of flashing my eyes to his so exhausting? I had to see him when his hands set me down like I was made of the finest china rather than human flesh, and I saw his stoic mask had fallen – leaving the sweetness of his mouth pressing against mine again and again pure and without regret. The way they had melted against my own so feverishly left me to find that my knees were far too weak to stand alone. His arms snaked around me in the very same instant, keeping me from falling to the icy ground as he ravaged my willing mouth with his. He whispered my name as our noses rubbed together, like he was savoring the taste it made in his mouth, like he was mourning the last time that this would ever happen. I wouldn't let this be the last time that I felt the center of my world come together in perfect harmony. I never knew such emotion…such unfamiliar concord. His whispered something of the dawn against my lips, but I didn't hear a word of it, for my heart beat too loudly in my ears and all my body could feel was a clawed finger tracing down my cheek with hidden fondness.

How did he find his legs so sturdy after we parted, catching his breath while I stopped to let my heart fall from my throat back to my chest? My eyes flew to him the instant we had parted, I had to know what this meant, even if I only got meaning from his eyes. But all that I could see was that within his thick, golden depths was a fiery ardor…the same blaze that lurked deep inside of the heart I always kept so hidden from the world. Yet his passive nature, his gentle embrace that was so much like the kiss of summer sunshine had found that lost heart deep inside of me and held it safely in his hands.

Where it would stay…forever.

My fingers held place above my feral heartbeat. My lips still stood in that heatedly blissful warmth, where they connected so naturally with his – like they were meant to stay encased together until time aged us beyond death. What was this feeling, this feeling that was so much stronger than anything I had ever felt before? My eyes followed him until he disappeared down the shrine steps, but the heat from his embrace, his _kiss_, remained locked away inside of me.

When he was no longer in the straining vision of my eyes, I fell against the tree, panting to myself unsteadily. I could feel the lingering love that Hakura left in this tree flood through me, leaving me even more breathless than I already was. "It's so warm," I smiled, licking his taste off of my lips greedily before it chilled and turned to nothing.

Voices erupted through the silence of the night and my head turned toward the wayward village at the base of the mountain. They had just begun the final dance of Hatsuyuki, where only the noise from drums could be heard as music. These dances were unfamiliar to me, but Nozomi explained that it was the most coveted event of the night where a man took his beloved and swore his love for another bountiful year. Then, I blushed as my own fingers graced my swollen lips, they would kiss so passionately that their love burned brighter than the lantern flames.

So maybe I already had celebrated this tradition the way it was intended: in the arms of the man that crept inside of my secret heart.

"_Dawn."_ His voice rang through my ears and my eyes deviated from the hues of pink and purple auras down the rocky hill to the serene village hidden in the shadow of the waning moon. I could feel his aura pulsing between my fingers and knew his eyes were still on me from somewhere within those woods. I scooped up the material of the warm kimono and shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself tightly. The wind was blowing fiercely, dripping ice down my spine.

"Sesshomaru-sama," I spoke softly, but I knew wherever he stood inside of this barrier he would hear me. "You are welcome in my home, if you so wish." The lustful, single-minded side of me begged for him to return to my hut, to touch me again with those claws. But the timid, still hurt from Inuyasha's harsh rejection, girl begged him not to. Could I be hurt again? Who was to say he would hurt me? I mean, he didn't exactly mark me his and say I belonged to no other man, and the prospect of him doing so was so remote I feared his intent could not be seen in this snow bitten seclusion.

I smiled at Ah and Un when I came down from the shrine and wiped the snow off of their heads gently. "Hey, there is a stable this way…lots of warm hay and no snow," I promised, enticing him with some dried meat. I led the two headed dragon into the safely of the stables meant for the village horses, but they didn't seem to mind sharing their home with a dragon. "I'm sure Sesshomaru-sama will be here for you in the morning," I promised, letting the creatures lick the dried meat from my palm before I left the doors slightly open so they could leave if they wanted to.

A fire was lit, my tea kettle was placed over the coals, and I wrapped myself up in a blanket beside the flames. It was so quiet here without Shippo's laughter or the sound of his drawing. I wondered if he and Rin had celebrated the festivities so traditionally. I smirked at the thought: Shippo, my son beside the demon lord of the west's ward – who was much like the daughter he never asked for. I could see the blush on his cheeks when she smiled at him. I could see the look in both of their eyes as they played together in the snow. I had a feeling Sesshomaru could, too.

My thoughts were quickly interrupted by a cold breeze bursting through the front door and I ducked my chin under the blanket. I shuddered under the wool for a few more moments before footsteps could be heard and I opened my eyes curiously. Only to find myself pulled into strong embrace and enveloped in a warmth I had missed so very much. I clung to the source of the warmth, pressing my face into his heated neck with a moan of satisfaction. "Sorry," I mumbled when he stiffened. "I didn't realize I was so cold."

"Miko…"His voice was the growl I had heard only twice before: on both occasions I was naked to his eyes in a hot spring. Keeping me sheltered from the wintry air wasn't what he came here for. He pushed me away, but only so he might look at me with scrupulous eyes. I melted from that gaze, so frenzied just as it had been before his lips pressed against mine so softly. His hand fisted in my hair and I looked up at him, fear finally dripping through my body, but not the fear he wanted. Was he seeing if I looked different, not covered in beautiful silk with my hair up? I blushed when his eyes roamed my face, my body wrapped up in my white kimono, and he came closer, his lips pressing a suffocating trail of fiery kisses to the skin of my neck as my breathing hitched. I could feel him – all of him – against me, pressing into every curve like we were two pieces of each other that had simply been lost before this moment. He growled when he got to my jawline, his eyes shutting tightly when his blazing trail stopped and he let my hair loosen in his grip.

The moment our eyes connected, I saw something light in his and my desires from earlier came to life. He pressed his heated mouth against mine; pushing me against the wall of connecting my bedroom to the house so forcefully I lost my breath and had to catch it as his kisses and bites ran down my neck. I moaned when his devious tongue ran across my collarbone, sending lust to the already wet folds between my legs. My hands ran through his hair, his lips parted above my skin, nipping at the sensitive flesh. My legs parted, letting him come very securely between them, pressing into me with his hardened manhood. I gasped as it moved to fill me, running across the wet folds through my pants, making him hiss from the contact and stare into my eyes wildly. His clawed hands gripped my thighs, bringing them to his waist roughly with a snarl. My arms wrapped around his neck and brought him closer when our lips connected vehemently once more. Our tongues fought in heated ecstasy until I was panting against him, seeing stars from not being able to breathe but I didn't care. I wanted him, right here, right now.

…and so did he. His lips were feverish, like they couldn't get enough of the taste of my skin. His breathing was as ragged as mine was when we parted, filling the cold night with visible white puffs that came from both of our chests. His hands ran down my body, tickling my hips until I grinned into the kiss and our pace slowed minimally. He rested his head against mine, his moon against my pale skin the darkness. The fire in his eyes had left behind a feeling of hunger that both of us desired to satiate, but, it was only then that I could feel what had made him so peaceful in this moment. His lips pressed against mine one more time, but his cold tongue didn't pass my mouth and his hands had stopped when they met my skin underneath my kimono. Our chests rested together and I stared at him in wonder: our heartbeats, I could hear them. They matched.

"What…?" I whispered when his lips grazed against mine with desire. His eyes opened, meeting mine for a moment, before he untangled my legs from his waist and shook his head like this had been a mistake. His frown was so deep I thought his face was going to implode, and when my hand touched his exposed flesh he growled in his throat again, pushing me back into the wall with red eyes. Where the hell had this come from? He was allowed to practically lip rape me, but I wasn't supposed to touch his arm?

He glared down at me; his warm eyes losing the peace created by our simultaneous heartbeats, and dropped me to the ground. Without a word and with furious eyes, he walked out of my home and left me on the floor – breathing deeply with a feeling of longing that I had never experienced before. I touched my swollen lips where teeth had bit down playfully and stared madly at the swinging bamboo. What…what the hell just happened?

* * *

Reckless. How could I have been so careless, so exposed before her stare? But…I could still feel her across my lips and I did not find regret in that warmth as I should have. I wanted her to believe I felt nothing and I was convinced, as my previous actions had failed before I even set my plan to task, that I had failed in my attempts at insincerity. She saw through me, how did I ever expect to lie to her? Beyond my idiotic nature was…the sensation of wishing that I might taste her again, as I did only seconds ago. I was already running from her and this place, the warmth of her peace. I longed to taste the sensation of serene spring rain across my lips, marked by her scent that breached my senses so successfully. I let him out, I let the demon surrender to his desire – and I almost mated her as consequence. I swallowed the desire in my throat and fought to forget the ache inside of me that only wanted to taste the nectar between her sweet legs.

I was too weak to let her go. I could not, even if my honor was concerned. I wanted her as my mine more than ever now. I wanted to mark her with the moon of the west, I wanted to kiss down her stomach and lose myself in her lust. I wanted to watch her scream my name as I entered her, filling both of our desires to the brim. My cock twitched eagerly at the very thought of being inside of her warmth, watching her breath deeply as I filled her. Both sides of me desired it, and that was why I had to walk away.

Such weakness could not ever come to pass. I would not create anything with that woman, that goddess, from this day to until the end of time. She was intended to another.

"I will not lose her to any man." I beat the demon's roars with my own vicious speech, expressing my own want for her as I stared down at the northern valleys from the top of the highest tree on this mountain. If it meant ending that wolf's life, that is what I would do.

_I will not lose her like I lost…_

I felt discomfort at the thought of the demoness of my past, wondering how she slithered her whoring ways into my mind. I saw the pale skin of her breast, the redness across her face as I intruded on her moment with my best general. I could still hear her begging for my forgiveness, my mercy. Like a phantom from another life, I could still feel the one absent tear that escaped me when I threw her out into the snow – and banished my closest ally from my castle with her. Love only brought misery in this life, from what I had known of it. I would have given the world for that demoness. I would have surrendered at her feet just for the feeling of her lips against mine. And now, I would give anything in this waking world to be with the miko in her hut, wrapped up in her embrace as she called me her own.

The moment I saw those deep blue eyes full of watery tears so long ago beside the hot springs in the east, I was doomed to relive the worst betrayal of my life. From that night, the miko had not left my mind, had not left my memories like everything else seemed to. I gripped the pine roughly with my strong hands, growling at our confounded heartbeats. Indeed, she did feel the way they thumped so harmoniously when we were near each other. Perhaps that was the only thing that took me from her arms this night, feeling the same harmony demons so spoke of around their…

"I will not mate her." The argument was somewhat less convincing as I still stood at attention, feeling her warmth still spreading through my cold limbs. I could not feel betrayal again. I would not feel deceit from her lips as she kissed me and thought of another man: the wolf demon, even the hanyou that once lurked inside of her heart.

Was it true? I found myself asking the wind as it bit my face with the bitterness of winter. Was it true that she was to be the love, the wholeness, of another?

* * *

My body wouldn't move, my mind couldn't get passed the feeling of him pressing up against me. My thoughts were only those of lust, of something more than just a kiss. I moaned as I felt the muscles of his back in my mind, and found myself breathless. Did that really just happen? My heartbeat told me yes but my brain told me there was no way he would ever kiss me again – not in the million years he would live.

We were so melodious together, like the music of the summer and the winter colliding in perfect harmony – one lighter and one heavier in pitch, but we fit together so perfectly that our differences were forgotten. I wanted more, like a caged animal finally set free into the world. His lips were just the first of the forbidden fruits to pass mine. My body screamed for more, for his hands to run down my body and cup my aching sex. My cheeks raged bright red at the thought and suddenly it wasn't so cold anymore. Like fire boiled across my skin and heated me to the very center of myself.

"We're back," Miroku announced, bursting through the bamboo to find me in such disarray he came to sit beside me with his hand pressed to my forehead. "Kagome, are you alright?" I shook my head, licking my dry lips with a single nod. Get it together!

I straightened out my kimono and sat on my knees, quickly taking the screaming tea pot from the fire to pour the steamy water into my cup. "I-I'm fine," I lied. I was far from fine and more than turned on, but they really didn't need to know what happened between Sesshomaru and I. "How was the festival, my love?" I smiled down at the Kitsune who had entered with Rin. Thankfully, he hadn't seen the disheveled mess I had been a few seconds previous and grinned up at me showing the various sweets he'd gotten from tonight's festivities.

"It was great, Lady Kagome. Shippo lit the village bonfire with his foxfire!" Rin clapped, grinning impossibly wide at the blushing fox. I commended his ability to harness his powers, patting his back, and handed them both a few spare blankets I picked up in town before we went to the festival.

Rin looked around, curling into a transformed Kilala beside Shippo. Miroku and Sango were still looking at me with the oddest eyes, taking in my every shaky movement. "Where is Sesshomaru-sama, Lady Kagome?" Rin's sweet voice made me twitch and spill my tea a little bit as I stirred away the sugar in my cup.

"Uh," I stammered, wetting the sudden dryness of my throat. "I think he went out for a while, I'm sure he'll be back soon." I hoped so, anyway. I stole a quick glance at the adults when the children started giggling together, and saw smug looks on both of their faces.

I stood up when Inuyasha and Kikyo came in, his ears going all the way against his head when his sensitive nose obviously smelled the dark demon all over me. I blushed when he smirked, drunken from Sake with his mate, and shook his head. I poked him in the chest, glaring at him with a very familiar blue fire in my eyes. If he said one word, I would chop his head off. "Nothing. Happened." I growled, shoving passed him and Kikyo's bubbly laughter to stomp out into the snow. I'd probably be better off in the stables with Ah-Un, at least they couldn't talk.

My eyes peered through the night and I felt around for his aura, begging to know where he was in this desolation, but came up empty handed. He was not inside of the barrier. He was probably so ashamed of my actions towards his person that he was just waiting for the dawn to murder me and say it was a training accident. The wind whipped around me, filling me with his scent, and I smiled toward the moon in the sky. Or…he felt just as excited as I did and had to get away from himself.

"I think," I mumbled to myself as I gazed into the full hut of smiling humans. "I am going to sleep in the shrine tonight. If you'd like, you can join me or stay beside Rin with the others." I knew, wherever he was, he would hear my voice as it carried with toward him in this wind. He wouldn't have gone far and left me so…defenseless, so unprotected. In his mind, at least. I climbed up the steps of the shrine, opened the door to an almost extinguished fire in the pit, grabbed my sleeping bag, and curled up at the statue's feet with a distant smirk on my exhausted face: Sesshomaru's touch the last thing on my mind before the night took over and my breathing stilled.

Oh…Inuyasha was right. Dawn came entirely too soon and no one should be awake this early. The sun kissed my cheeks; burned red passed my eyes, and woke me from a much needed slumber. My body had calmed down since the events of last night but my muscles, in particular my lips, were sore. I touched their swollen redness and rolled out of the warm sleeping bag onto the cold floor. The snow was still tall on the ground, like the sun's rays didn't affect it in the least when I stumbled out of the shrine – half asleep to this world still. My bow across my shoulders, my arrows in slung over the opposite one, and I was on my way out of the village, where I could sense a demonic aura like no other. I longed to see his eyes, to feel him again. That was the only thing spurring me on this morning.

It only took a few moments of walking, _waking up more like it_, until saw him, standing centered this clearing of the forest just outside of the village. I could feel other youkai around us, harmless spectators of the might demon of the west and the Miko protector of the hidden village. The barrier shrank behind me and I emerged, smiling at him with tired eyes. The sun was just rising above the trees, and with all the thinking I had done last night, I was surprised I was even among the conscious right now. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't, even now, stop thinking of the urgent way he took me into his arms, his eyes like wildfire as we connected again – passion and softness thrown to the wind. It was so feral, almost like he needed me. He glared when my scent whipped through the wind and right as my lips curved in a smile, he was beside me, striking – with Tokijin. I jumped away, creating a barrier on the side he stabbed at before the blade hit me. My eyes were widened at his red orbs, the smirk of death across his lips.

"Can you put that barrier up around your entire body, woman?" He inquired, behind me now, fisting my hair as his sword rose to my neck, slicing the skin delicately. I didn't even have time to think before a barrier connected with his sword, throwing him to the right of me where he jabbed the youkai blade again, aiming for my throat. He was everywhere at once, cutting my cheeks with his claws, tearing my skin open all over my body so easily with the speed. His fist connected with my stomach and I exhaled harshly, doubled over onto my knees, coughed blood onto the flowers that dripped onto harshly. The scars lining my cheeks healed and the blood stopped, but not before he grabbed my hair again and held my head up.

What the hell was happening? His blade was at my neck, threatening my life with the pulsing black aura that my own purified when it tried to take control of my mind. "I expected much more from you, Miko." He whispered in my ear, cutting the skin as he tilted my head to stare into his disdainful eyes. I gasped at the pain, tried to find my voice to scream for him to stop, when I saw Nozomi in my mind, defeating a powerful youkai from the Tortoise clan. She moved with grace, disarming the demon with her bare hands and shooting an arrow straight through his forehead when distraction took hold.

My actions mirrored hers and I gave up on begging for my life; it was useless with this demon lord to even hope to live in a situation like this. My hands came up to clamp either side of his sword, my energy pulsing through the instrument when he let his guard down because of the blackness in my stare. His eyes narrowed because of the blood dripping from my hands when he pressed harder, trying to embed it into my abdomen, and I winced but made no move to stop the attack. I smirked up at him, blood dripping past my lips when the blade dug past my skin. He was testing me, I could see it in his worried eyes. "I expected more from _you_, youkai." I whispered, knowing he would hear me, and maybe the worry in his eyes would be replaced with hatred.

His eyes widened when I pulsed my energy, the same energy protecting the village, against his harmless aura and my hands grabbed hold of the blade that was infamous for taking over any human that dared touch it. I maneuvered around him, shoving him forward with my light when he was blinded by it. I moved to grip the sword at its hilt, spinning in such a way that made him take my position and I his: his own sword pointed was down at his neck and I stood above his kneeling, snarling body as my waves of power rolled off of him. Not even he could resist the purifying auras licking across his cheeks – they burned the pale skin, leaving him feral looking and bleeding as he had left me moments ago.

"Miko," he growled in warning as his hand formed a whip that wrapped around my neck. I felt the sizzle of his poison trying to bring me down, but I would not lose – I couldn't. This was my test, my chance to show him I could stand beside him just as strong as any other demoness would. I was not the weak human woman he once knew.

I pushed more of my own poison spiritual light into him, smirking when his eyes drooped and his body sagged. "Youkai," I snarled back, grabbing the whip with my fingers to dissolve it before my head was severed from my body. I pressed the purified Tokijin against his flesh and he growled at the obvious pain it brought him. I'd never seen him in pain, and though I was not trying to take his life, my heart was shrieking for me to stop because I was injuring him when all I wanted this morning was another one of those breathtaking kisses.

"What the hell are you two doing?" A frantic voice came from behind us and I saw that Inuyasha, Kikyo, Miroku, and Sango had run through the forest to where we stood to see what all of the noise was. They looked ready for battle until they saw what was happening between the demon lord and myself. A dozen trees had fallen because of the combination of my white light and his poison that dripped purposefully. "Kagome!" Miroku yelled, worry lacing his tone as I sunk Sesshomaru's own sword into his neck further, but not so much so that he would lose his life.

"I am not weak," I glared at his words, the words he had used to describe me so many times and ignored my friend's protests. "You will not best me. You are just like every other youkai, now, Sesshomaru-sama. You will die by my hand and no one else's."

He smirked, shaking his head as his hand shot up to wrap around my throat. He took my surprise to throw the sword to the side, ending the reign of terror it produced against his flesh. He pressed me into the ground, hovering above my body, and my white light went soft because of the look in his eyes: heavy desire, mild disbelief, even a smudge of pride lurked passed them as he glared down at me. The light disappeared as he flicked his claws across my skin and bent down to my neck, licking away the wound just as quickly as it had been produced.

He smirked marginally against me when my eyes closed and I rolled my head to the side, giving him better exposure to my overheated skin that desperately wanted to be touched some more. His lips rested at my ear and his hand found place above my hip. "Acceptable. However, I had expected you to bring a sword." He let me up, holding onto my hand until I was standing on my two feet, snorting at the blood staining both of our clothes when our bodies had already healed themselves. "A foolish mistake, Miko. Going into battle without a weapon would mean certain death when dealing with youkai, even for a priestess. You may be able to produce a barrier around your person but that will not hold forever. You will tire and then you will be even more exposed to your enemies. You will die, and they will not be at fault for ending the life of someone so reckless that they forgot their sword before charging into battle." He glowered, disapproving of my forgetfulness. My black blade, which had never seen the light of day, still lay across the sleeping mat in my room.

He walked away from me, his cold mask back in place when my cheeks flushed at the harsh nature of his voice. I nodded, accepting that my mistake had certainly been a laughable one, but he needed to lighten up. I was still half-asleep when I made the decision to touch Tokijin's tainted blade, and I still had the glaring red burns across my hands to prove it. It seemed that my group of companions had calmed enough to not interrupt his criticism and I saw they had taken place at the top of the hill leading down into the once flower-filled meadow to watch the spectacle.

When he turned to me with narrowed – suspicious – golden eyes, I felt something tug at my center and disrupt the solace I found beside the demon lord. I shook my head to clear it, but the blackness didn't leave and neither did the chill down my spine. "What-?"

"Lady Kagome!" Miroku shouted, standing when he felt the blackness as well. Sesshomaru took me by the waist and with one single jump I was standing beside the monk, looking up to the back of my dueling partner. Inuyasha came over to us, his ears back on his hung-over looking head as he held Kikyo tightly, protectively. Sesshomaru, though, was blocking my view of the intruder I could feel since I had left the village. But its aura hadn't been dark like this and that was why I didn't kill it in the very second I sensed it.

Fed up with the nothingness going on in front of me, I twirled on my toes, latching my arms between Sesshomaru's to turn him and his narrowed eyes behind me in one fluid movement I learned from the priestess before me. In the very same second that I was standing in front of the growling demon, my bow was pulled tight. I released the pink energized arrow before the youkai could leave the safety of the trees, making a path of destruction and blinding light until it struck a mighty sequoia tree hundreds of feet from where I stood with a dull thud. I didn't know what was happening, but whatever it was would not be tolerated in my village.

"Show yourself," I commanded with an icy voice, filled to the brim with bloodlust as I hinged another arrow. I stared down the dead tree path hatefully, waiting for a reply.

"You careless, filthy ningen! I cannot believe you would attack me like that! I should kill you where you stand you wretched girl!" A shrill voice bellowed, emerging from the rubble and smoke, waving his staff around madly. The blackness that set us all on edge did not come from the toad demon, but from the sturdy shadow behind him. I very successfully ignored Jaken's ranting when he came to stand nervously beside his lord, whispering that he was so very sorry – for what I couldn't say.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" The shadowed voice called joyously and the demon lord tensed with a snarl bubbling past his lips. The noise from Sesshomaru suggested that this demon was a treacherous beast, and the way his arm came up to bring me behind him suggested that he was not to be trusted. I lowered my bow when he glared down at me protectively with Tokijin raised toward the threat. I felt terror seep through me. I'd never seen Sesshomaru so cold, so precise. The countless times he had tried to kill Inuyasha seemed more like playful acts of brotherhood compared to his reddened eyes.

Then, my eyes trailed toward a very handsome youkai that had arisen from the trees. His hair was dark blue, almost black and his eyes were yellow slits like ones you would see on a snake. His face was pale – almost gray and scaly in comparison to the bright yellow, jagged marks across either one of his cheeks. "You will not come any closer to her, Raijukin." Sesshomaru warned lowly, as if he could read the man's thoughts when he'd started coming toward me with curious eyes and a smirk across his blue-tinted lips.

He seemed genuinely hurt as he stared up at the demon of the west. "Is that any way to greet your eldest friend and closest ally as he leads his army in your allegiance?" Allegiance? I gasped and brought a hand to my parted lips, standing closer to the dog demon when two divided armies emerged behind the man he called Raijukin. One was the notorious Inu-youkai Clan of the Western lands, but the other…was the enormous, scaled, smirking Dragon Demon Army of the East. _This dragon_, I pondered as my hand fisted Sesshomaru's kimono, _is he the man responsible for the betrayal with the only woman Sesshomaru ever loved like Inuyasha told me last night?_

The demon lord seemed to ponder the numbers of the dragons coupled with his brethren and glared with vicious reddened orbs of odium. "We shall see where your loyalty lies, dragon." His arm became a protective weight across my waist when the dragon glared at my curious, wide eyes. Sesshomaru roared domineeringly when the man's yellow orbs came to rest on me. He bowed his head and backed away, his eyes never leaving where they were so firmly set on me. When he smirked in my direction, making me blush, Sesshomaru pulled me – almost painfully – closer and snarled with jagged purple streaks across his cheeks, abhorrence in his eyes. Who was this man that made Sesshomaru so… uncontrolled?

What the hell had made him act this way? It had to be deeper than simply the evil aura around the dragon army. Did he fear the man would try and end my life before I could help him kill Naraku, successfully ending any chance we had in purifying his body? The dragon finally gazed away from me just as fleeting terror drenched his expression from Sesshomaru's poison dripping across the grass. "Your ward recruited the armies of the west and Totosai comes with the Phoenix Army of the South. I should be offended, friend. Why haven't I, the greatest ally of the West, been invited to fight against the threat that requires an army of more than three hundred battle-ready Inu-youkai?"

"Offence was not my intent, Raijukin. I simply set my ward to the purpose of bringing my own person armies. I have no knowledge of Totosai's plans." I shuddered at the frost in his voice and watched the smirk that only meant death was coming on swift wings to whoever gazed upon it fill his lips.

"Oh well," he stepped forward, as did the black aura of his army. "What harm could come from more troops, certainly a simple miko and hanyou will not suffice against any threat?" I felt my own eyes narrow at the innocent in his speech, his deceitful eyes, but Sesshomaru nodded in agreement – much to my incredulity.

"Very well, you are right in your place as a battle strategist to express concern for the need of more troops. I will honor the tradition of our lands and accept your aide in battle." Honor this demon in battle, was he crazy? Did he not sense what I did right now?

Suddenly, the wind changed and Sesshomaru's claws almost dug into my skin, sending wonder through me at the need for him to be closer to me. His relatively calm eyes had gone mad with an emotion I had only ever seen on the faces of people in their memories – in the moment that they had betrayed each other. My stomach dropped as swiftly as his arm did from my body when a woman emerged from behind the armies – dressed in the finest kimonos I had ever laid eyes on. Her hair was deep silver, her eyes the most contrasting bright purple as they clashed with Sesshomaru's shocked expression.

Her hair fell across her shoulders in wavy folds of satin, rivaling only the blue robes across her shoulders. Jealousy vibrated through my innards, making me feel self-conscious as she stared me down disdainfully for only a moment and moved on because what she saw was nothing to be concerned with. I had to look away she was so breathtaking and I knew, after the moment she spoke his name the feelings in my breast were that of a young girl with her hopes set far too high. I blushed and backed away from the stunned demon that once held onto me when he unconsciously gravitated closer to her – making my heart roar in anger below my chest. Was I to lose his warmth to the source of the black aura? Was I to lose Sesshomaru…just as I had lost Inuyasha: to a woman of his past?

"Sesshomaru," She addressed him without title in a voice that was sweeter than summer rain against my human ears. "It has been entirely too long."

His eyes held so much agony when he spoke her name with a growl, like it was something to be guarded for all eternity and then destroyed in the same instant. "Mayumi."

**A/N: Oooo bitches! :) I'm so excited to bring this bitch in! She's gonna be so evil. **

**Who else loved the kissy faces on our love-birds? I loved writing about it hehe. Expect some more soon. **

**Review **

**-Panda**


	17. She Will

**A/N: So, thank you stealthy reviewer for telling me your name! I really enjoy your reviews, they make me smile lol. ****OH and everyone, I've changed up chapter one. It was about 1500 words and now it's about 4000…so yeah it's a bit different. I've simply set the mood to match the later chapters when inspiration took hold of my fingers and grabbed my laptop.**

**Oddly, the name for this chapter ****came from a Lil Wayne song I listened to almost nonstop as I wrote this, like a super remix that was so fucking down and sexy with T.I...(drools). Has nothing at all to do with the chapter, though, as "realest n***a in the fucking game right now," doesn't really apply to Sesshomaru. **

**Anyway, enjoy.**

**Chapter Nineteen **

**She Will **

Such emotion. Such irritation was the product spawned from the bitterness of her betrayal, and it had my blood boiling from the ire her face brought me – just the smile across her lined lips, the lips that had been molded around the general's length when I tore through the doors of my chambers five-hundred years ago, sent my eyes red and my skin shifting unnaturally paler. I could see that time had aged her and the beauty that once spilled into my dead heart repulsed. Her skin, once as beautiful as the moonlight, now resembled it more closely. She was wrinkled and cratered, her demon was withered with time and her body had been let go by the children she had bared and lost. The damage of birthing a dragon from an Inu-youkai body had taken its toll over these many centuries.

I found my center of control after the single instant of shock that seeing her again brought me, and I discovered that my feet had moved closer. My demon, that once only wanted to hold her in its arms, now wanted to tear her apart and it took all of my control to keep him from his desires. But when we both noticed that the miko was moving away with heartbreak in her blue eyes, the anger ended. "Miko," I commanded so lowly only her close ears would hear. "You are not to move from my side, is that clear?" I growled, taking her kimono in my fist before she was out of my reach. I would not lose her because of the foul demoness in front of us, or the man eyeing her like she was a delicacy to be savored as it went down the throat.

"Oh?" Mayumi's eyebrows rose when she saw the possessive way I stared at the miko. This woman knew only of possession and anger, so these emotions across my face would be clear. I gave her the stoniest stare, glaring with all of my being as she spoke to me with trepidation. "Have you found a human pet, Sesshomaru? I must admit…she is positively ordinary. Do you plan on eating her?" My eyes widened at the threat coming from the demoness and I pushed Kagome behind me defensively. Now was the time to end this feeling in my forgotten past. Now was the time to watch her beg for my mercy.

Faster than she would ever be able to move in her ancient state, I was in front of her with poison dripping past my lips, oozing out of my fingers, and with one sinister smirk in her direction my hands enclosed around her throat. I squeezed the ice-cold skin, feeling revulsion simply from her touch that spread across my arm when she fought back. The black aura came from her, not from Raijukin or his army of dragons.

"You move to strike the lady of the east?" Raijukin snarled with hate in his voice, but did not move to stop my poison from dripping down her neck where my hand clenched tighter. He would not stop me. Being the new lord of the eastern lands after his father's untimely passing was more important than risking his empire's safety for the sake of one demoness and he knew that I knew it.

I snarled in his direction, my eyes never leaving her deep violet mirrors of terror. "I move to strike a whore," my red eyes flashed to the struggling bitch in my grip and I felt my skin chill as she clawed at my arm uselessly. "The only lady I see in this snow stands behind me, guarding her kin." My eyes flashed toward Kagome, who was standing defensively in front of her friend that was with child and Inuyasha's newly born woman.

"You would not kill me," she spat, gaining my attention with her smug smile. "You _cannot_. You still love me." My face inched closer to hers, my lip curling at the sweet vanilla of her scent – it was dreadful, so unnatural; so unlike the delicate scent of spring and the summer coming from the miko behind me. My nose ran down her horror-stricken cheek, promising death when my fangs trailed down her face and ripped open her flesh.

"I do not know the emotion of love," I whispered mercilessly in her ear, my demon rejoicing at the opportune moment to end her life. It was not a lie like she so hoped it would have been. I had no knowledge of love, only lust and passion – the two things I felt only in presence of the woman behind me. "I can kill you where you stand, Mayumi. I should and your mate does nothing because he knows that I have every right to after your recalcitrance towards me and my kingdom." I threw her to the icy ground, where she was gasping with tired lungs for air she used to not need – like every other demoness and demon across the lands. Their cross-breeding had not only led to useless flying pups but to her demise. I stepped on her fragile neck, scowling down at her as Raijukin roared uselessly.

"I chose not to. Your penance will be your knowledge of what could have been. Beside me, you _would have_ had healthy pups, they would not have damaged your body and soul simply coming to their existence, and you would not have felt the pain of their premature deaths. Remember that the next time you cross me, whore." I turned my back to the enraged demoness after the poison stopped spilling from my lips. I had nothing else to say to the bitch, and the promise of wonder in the miko's eyes gave me all I needed to leave her in my past where her worn corpse belonged. I did not desire the cold touch she would always have given me. I would have betrayed her the moment I met the miko and felt this galling attraction.

I could see her smile in my mind when I turned away from Mayumi. I could taste the pink blush across her cheeks – and I didn't need to have open eyes to find the beauty in her soft smile. _How far I have come father_, I gazed up at the clouds when my thoughts turned to him and Inuyasha's human mother. _Perhaps you were right to leave my mother, if this was what you found in her place_.

"Don't even think about it." My eyes dropped from the clouded skies swiftly to see the miko of my mind standing beside me, facing the opposite direction with her arrow raised to purpose. I glanced over my shoulder at whatever had made her so upset she felt the need to kill – a need that I had never seen so prominent in her eyes. The scorned demoness had taken stance behind me, a dagger raised to find purchase underneath my armor. How had the miko seen this failed assassination attempt from so far away with her human eyes? "Drop it," she threatened wrathfully, pressing the arrowhead into Mayumi's forehead with fire in her tight eyes. My attraction was obvious as I stared with hunger in my gaze and I liked the hatred that I saw – the coldness that replaced her ever caring blue orbs showed me she was no longer a weak human mortal.

Mayumi howled in agony when the pink light threatened to purify her, falling to her knees when green blood oozed from her pale skin. She dropped the dagger threatening my life and the miko lowered her arrow, glancing over at me with guarded eyes. I nodded, silently thanking her loyalty to me. Mayumi chuckled under her breath as the dragon demon helped her to her feet, smirking at me as well when I fisted Kagome's kimono and growled lowly in my throat.

"Ah, I see now," she touched the miko's hair with her rancid fingers when she was upright again and I almost bit her hand off for it. She giggled at my reaction when I pushed the miko behind me again, keeping her shielded from the filth of the demon world. She was too kind for it, too good-natured to see the evil that lurked inside of this woman. An evil I knew all too well. "You are in love with this human. How very like your father you are, Sesshomaru."

When I was about to speak of things I did not wish for any respectable woman to hear, the miko behind me spoke up with obstinacy. "Sesshomaru-sama would never disgrace his lands by taking a human mate, youkai. I am the priestess that guards these lands and he is residing here while we plan war, so he is under my protection as well. Nothing more will ever come from our," she pretended to stare at me with contempt like all other holy people of these lands had – perhaps it was something between us, but I knew that she was lying as she did when I tried to be deceitful towards her. "_Agreement_." I fought a smile when Mayumi's eyes darkened, but listened to the miko as she grabbed the poisoned dagger off the ground and threw it back at her feet.

"And he should not be slaughtered be a woman so cowardly," she glared disdainfully, striking pride in my chest from the way she spoke of my honor. "She has to attack him when his back is turned."

We both sat in silence while she fumed over the miko's words, and I spoke to the dragon. "You are welcome on these lands but this priestess will put a barrier around your men to make them unseen, and if you commit any wrong doings toward the village she guards they will be purified. The same is for my men," I nodded toward Ginbosu, who had come to stand defensively beside me when the dozen Inu-youkai of the west saw her plans for attack. They all agreed, nodding not only in allegiance to me but to the miko that had prevented my admittedly careless death. My armies went to set up camp in this vast field when I dismissed them and my eyes turned back toward the mates in front of me, and the woman at my side.

I grabbed the demoness by her throat again, getting a warning growl from her mate. "And if you ever try to touch _her_ again," I glared at the ancient demoness from my mother's house and let my eyes wander to Kagome's stoic expression to make my words clear. Fright crossed her sour face. "I will kill you where you stand."

* * *

My eyes became passive as the demoness backed away from him with her slaves, demanding that they heal her cuts and bruises immediately. She was so cruel. She was beautiful as a summer night on the outside but toxic as this winter's snow on the inside. How unnatural. I narrowed my eyes when she glared hatefully at me, like the slashes across her cheeks from Sesshomaru's poison touch were my fault. The disdain between us was mutual.

But, I stared at the lord talking with his generals. I knew that now was not the time for me to look at him with all of the desire I felt – the same desire spread through me from the moment that I fell asleep last night, but I couldn't help myself.

Was his scent still all over me, like I hoped it was? Were his eyes still so stifling that they could melt the snow when they stared at me, and only me? Was now not the time to listen to my heart beating loudly in my chest, begging for him to be close to me again so that we might find the same harmonious spell cast over us? All it wanted to tell Mayumi was that he was mine and no one else would ever hurt him again like she did – even though he wasn't and would never want to be. Did I, in a state of clarity, even want him as I had with Sake and lust on my lips last night? A blush around my cheeks was my answer to that question when our eyes met across the field – setting it on fire in the process.

No! Lust was what came over us last night, not…some deeper emotion, right? I told myself that, over and over again reverently. His words, so filled with hidden dominance filled me when he told me I was not to leave his side – those words I assumed were meant to keep me safely tucked away from any danger, but they still meant he did not desire to be alone with her and he did not want me to leave him. Forever or just for now?

My eyes rested on the small circle of high-placed youkai Sesshomaru spoke to, and I smiled in apology at the bear general Ginbosu, for I'd tried to kill him only days ago when Sesshomaru began dictating his armies to take siege of the human castle that Naraku's incarnations had taken over. "Ginbosu," Sesshomaru began as the demon stared down at me in wonder. "As Jaken has so boasted, these are the best generals and warriors in my armies, yes?"

"Of course, Sesshomaru-sama! I have only brought the greatest men from your armies," he assured his lord and I found myself biting my lip from the tension in his stare toward me.

He looked over the relatively sparse troops and I rolled my eyes for him at the dragon demon's exaggeration of how many youkai had come to battle. Three hundred times the size of a human army, maybe, if they were all transformed into their true selves. I only saw maybe a dozen across the field whereas the dragon demons were in the twenties. Did that say something of their strength, were they a weaker race than the Inu-youkai? Beyond that though, the scaly army of brawny dragon men paled to the handsome dog demons under Sesshomaru's command. They all had different eye colors, different markings, but the same regality that Sesshomaru himself did. It was, needless to say, was intimidating to have all of their curious eyes on me, hear their wondering whispers indulge over who I was to the lord…_really_.

Almost as if I was dismissed from listening to strategically placing of their tents in regard to the dragons, I began to wander from his side in the snow. I could feel his eyes on me, caressing me, adoring me as I twirled in the stunning flakes that fell from the tree branches. The demons raised their eyebrows at me in wonder at my frivolity among the strongest youkai on the planet, and I felt stupid.

Maybe I'd be more suited setting up my barrier than getting eyed curiously by dogs and dragons.

I sighed at their curious stares and expanded my energy around all of us, startling most of the dragons, but only a fraction of the dogs who smirked at me wistfully. I started to mold my energy around the field, connecting it toward the pathway that was once hidden to all of these youkai, and opening my warmth and peace to touch their souls and take off the edge. My friends had all taken place, talking amongst the inquisitive demons that couldn't seem to believe a hanyou like Inuyasha was as strong as he was, beside said pathway. I found myself at the tree line, ending the bubble of energy just across the tall pines where the winter flowers had grown and died with the frost, but I was not alone in my solitary conquest.

I blushed when a demon about my age, who had given me a smirk when I expanded my energy around the youkai, was one again smiling over at me from where he accompanied me beside the shadows. His hair was cropped short like a modern day rockstar would have it and his eyes were such a deep blue I felt like I might actually drown if I stared at them for too long. He looked almost exactly like Sesshomaru, a young demon lord for the castle of the moon I guessed, but younger and…_happier_. His eyes softened upon looking at me, but they did not instill comfort. "So, you are the priestess then? The one he's been after all of this time?" I swallowed at his deep voice, letting his accusations take hold as my aura kept him at bay.

_Sesshomaru_. I called in my mind when I felt him come close even though my aura had wrapped around him and pushed him back.

"I'm afraid so, I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced anyone," I laughed, gripping my bow nervously as he seemed to stare me over as if I was naked, like I was the attractive demoness in this situation. I could almost see Sesshomaru in his face, and that resemblance made me weak. Until I shut my eyes and felt his energetic aura press against mine, spreading his pine and mint smell across me. It was so unlike the smooth calmness of the demon lord who I was sure was watching from afar, so different, almost repulsive. It certainly made me long for the serenity I felt when beside Sesshomaru.

The man in front of me looked deeply into my eyes when they reopened, growling his next words. "Well I cannot say I blame him for wanting such a beautiful woman back," he let a curl of my hair run past his fingers and my eyes widened in fear from his closeness. I almost shouted when his hand rested above my hip and his claw dug into my skin uncomfortably. "I would have done the same."

He gave me one last smirk that sent my cheeks ablaze with self-consciousness and worry, but Sesshomaru's enraged sharp bark startled the aroused man before me into jumping a few feet away. His eyes were glaring red as they met mine across the field angrily, like I had done something wrong. Did he see this as my fault? "Miko," he glared at me and I felt my chest tighten. Did he really believe I was attracted to this guy, to this…cocky, overly confident _dog_? "Where is your wolf, would he not be displeased that you are acting so frivolously with another man?" I dismissed the way Sesshomaru's aura wrapped around me possessively, telling the young demon silently that I was his and not to be touched ever again.

I almost rejoiced from the knowledge, until I realized he was trying to run my life for me by telling me what I could do and what I couldn't. Certainly, I did not want the young demon hitting on me, but it wasn't Sesshomaru's place to tell me who I could love and who was forbidden to me.

I stomped toward him in the snow, fighting off his aura with my own white light that came out of my fingertips I was so furious that he thought he had claim toward me, enough so to tell me what to do. "I desire no _other _man, Sesshomaru-sama," I assured him with reassurance when I could see fresh hurt in his eyes. I had let myself be touched by another man, and it made him crazy…but why? Just because we shared one kiss in a moment he would call weakness, a moment he probably regretted, he had claim to my life?

"Take response in hand and open ears," I warned as his jealous grimace threatened to tear me to pieces. "That wolf does not belong to me and never shall." My eyes met his most ardently until I could take no more of his misplaced jealousy. He was being ridiculous about one simple stare from a demon guy that meant nothing – to either of us. But when I started to walk away from him, sighing at his stoic gaze, a hand reached out to find place on my forearm.

"Angering you was not my intent, Miko. I only need to know where he will reside among my men." I saw apology past those eyes, but it wasn't me who answered his previous inquiries.

"Get off her back asshole, Koga went to get more of them mangy wolves that want revenge, too. He left last night after Kagome did. I'm betting he won't spend too much time away from her, now that he's found out where she ran off to, though." Inuyasha's irritated voice piped in, separating my gaze from Sesshomaru's when his eyes flashed red. He controlled himself in the very same instant, but it didn't fool me. He was envious of my friendship with Koga.

"Koga-kun," I whispered, frowning to myself when the demon's claws dug into my skin. "He knows what I will have to do if he's in the fight. Naraku will kill him just for his jewel shards, I'll have to remove them of his life will be forfeit!" My voice traveled upon deaf ears. Inuyasha, and certainly the jealous Sesshomaru, didn't care if his life was lost because of the jewel. After tears threatened to fall from my eyes, it was Kikyo who answered me.

She smiled as she took one of my hands in hers assuring. "I will help you subdue him so that we might purify the shards and add them to your half. That way, Koga will run no risk of death in battle. If we defeat Naraku, we will be able to purify the evil in his half of the jewel as well."

"And then," I noticed that all of the demons – including the rivaling brothers, had taken interest to my dark voice. "I will banish the Shikon Jewel from existence." I glared down at the rock that had ruined so many lives, remembering my grandfather's words of the jewel when he found I was its protector. "Only with the right wish will the jewel vanish forever," He echoed in my mind. This rock had ruined Kikyo's and Inuyasha's love, destroyed Sango and her brother Kohaku's relationship after the fall of their village, even cursed Miroku and his family who were then torn in two from the evil hanyou that had placed it on his ancestors, and finally _me_. If Naraku hadn't created the betrayal between the man my heart used to yearn for and his true love, I'd still be an average sixteen year old girl in modern day Japan. I'd have gone on to high school, graduated college, found a boring husband to love and share my life with…maybe I would have even had children someday. What I missed of my life beyond the well were all of the possibilities of potential love, unconditional caring from my family, and a long life beside a man that cherished me.

But as my eyes flashed from the broken jewel to the passionate golden windows into his fragmented soul, I felt no regret – no lost possibilities could blind me. How could one touch, one _kiss_, change me so? Hadn't I hated having to protect this stone, even if it meant my life was sacrificed? Hadn't I always wanted to destroy it the first chance I had so I could live my old life again? Why now, did I wish for the jewel to remain in this world just for a little longer?

_Because if it's gone_ – I watched his fingers leave my flesh, taking their serene warmth with them – _if it's gone, there will be no reason…for him to stay._ "Very well," Sesshomaru let out in response to his younger brother and I jumped from the intrusion on my bleak thoughts. "When the wolf returns he may keep his troops toward the forest; my men will take place in front of the path that leads into Hakura, the dragons will remain by the river, and Totosai's phoenix clan will be perched on the side of the mountain to give us better eyes of the valley." He spoke to the traitor Raijukin and his general Ginbosu purposefully, letting them set his will to task before his stare fell on me again. His eyes held emotion from my sight doggedly and I narrowed my own in wonder.

"Inuyasha," he spoke to his brother, but his orbs hadn't left mine. Such affection, such fire, had he always been so handsome? "I have business with you, matters of a private nature." Finally, almost reluctantly, his gaze tore from mine toward the stubborn hanyou glaring at him. I could see by the way he stared at Kikyo he hadn't expected to be taken from her side even for a moment. I didn't blame him, if I had lost my lover for fifty years because thoughts of betrayal came to light, I wouldn't let him go either.

Sesshomaru's dark voice, filled with an uncaring tone that would not raise suspicion was turned on me when his brother agreed after a very long look shared with his mate. "And we must break words afterward, Miko." He then commanded, getting a huff from Inuyasha.

I could tell from the fire in his eyes that he hated when Sesshomaru commanded me around like I was something rather than someone. I knew that Inuyasha only wanted me to find happiness, but he didn't know that just being in the path of that state, that stare that was so frigid to everyone else, sparked a deep happiness that would follow me to my grave. I didn't need the affectionate touch that he received from Kikyo. I just needed those eyes and the promise of solace they held only for me.

"I must attend to my duties in the village," my voice was soft as his mask fell only for me to see and I stared upon his worry, his unease at the thought of leaving me alone. "But I will expect you the moment I finish, Sesshomaru-sama." When he nodded, letting the mask of coldness slip back over his warm eyes, my attention was set on the two couples standing on a snowy hill above us. Miroku held Sango close to him, kissing her often while Kikyo and Inuyasha's hands hung lazily between their bodies. They shared a single kiss, a much simpler act of love than the way Miroku lavished his bride with much needed affection.

Sesshomaru beckoned Inuyasha into the shadows of the forest, beyond my barrier to everyone's surprise, but I was quick to turn away suspicion – by request of his hard eyes on mine. "I desire my home to be my own again," I laughed toward the small group remaining and their attention was grasped. I was no longer beside him, I could no longer feel his kind red aura wrapped around me…and it was like my soul craved for it to be.

_Focus_.

"There are a few huts in town that will provide more comfort," I winked at Sango's blushing cheeks and Kikyo's small chuckle," and much more privacy than my home can provide. You are welcome to reside there for as long as you'd like." My offer stood for all off the people I held more like family than friend, and I hoped they would accept. Life among their happiness would be more than anything I could ever ask for after the moment that I departed on a journey that might take me away from them forever, but would bring me closer to destroying Naraku without risking any of the lives close to me.

Sango took hold of my hand when I stared toward the village – her eyes filled with surprised and a hope she had lost when her village was destroyed. "Kagome, would you really allow us to stay here, in this perfect village where everyone is accepted, demon or human? Would you allow us to raise our family in this village – under your protection?" It was like she was questioning everything I stood for. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arm around her shoulders when I saw tears threatening to breach her eyes. What silly questions.

"My dear sister," I cooed as our heads touched while we walked up the path. "Of course! I wish to live my life watching both of us age – surrounded by grandchildren." I giggled as my hands pressed against her small stomach and her smile lit up the dark morning. They would not be mine, I knew that, but I couldn't wait to see little quarter demon priestesses and miniature demon slayer monks running underfoot.

We arrived in the village only moments later to find that life started late among the people after feast and wine passed lips. The men bundled their children up in warm clothes before they went off to play in the snow; they kissed their wives and set to the forest for firewood to keep heat thick in the atmosphere. The three followed me through the village, greeting the welcoming villagers warmly until we came toward what would be their new home. It had three bedchambers, fit for a large family like the one before them had been. The previous man and his wife left because living beside demons peacefully wasn't for everyone, and Nozomi asked them to leave before her passing.

I opened the sturdy doors that were so very unlike the bamboo across the opening of my hut and more like the palace a lord would live in, to reveal a beautiful home to the growing family. As they gaped at the solid floors, the strong walls, and the beautiful view from the back gardens I blessed the walls, praying that they would find happiness here. "This is way too much, Kagome," Sango protested with widened eyes and a gaping mouth.

I shook my head, handing her the key. "It's just right, actually, you love it. I'm gonna go on patrol while you get all of your stuff settled in here then I'll be off with Sesshomaru – discussing whatever it is he needs with me…"I mumbled the last part to myself with narrowed eyes, curiosity getting the best of me.

I hoped, probably in vain, that it was simply his desire to be beside me without anyone's observation. He probably only wished to discuss strategy and placement, maybe he even had a plan to lure our common enemy to the North which would require my assistance. Why else would he desire worlds with me? Had I, foolishly, let myself believe he would be around after we defeated the enemy? He wouldn't. He certainly had no reason to, now that he knew I could defend my – and his – life. What would be the point of staying in the north with a village miko protecting a god pool? "There wouldn't be," I whispered as I walked away from the happy couple, kissing and holding each other in their new home.

Kikyo followed me back to my home, commenting on pleasantries friends would share, and that was when I realized I had made a friend out of a woman that I once envied, almost hated, beyond compare. We were supposed to be two parts of one person, but the moment I took her soul out of my body I felt like myself again. I felt strong, I felt my own happiness, but the most prominent of my new feelings was no lingering affection for Inuyasha. I didn't desire him the moment that the soul I had unconsciously taken was removed and a new feeling started to bloom, a new feeling for another man that I never knew would fill my chest.

I found my cheeks heated when I swung the bamboo door open only slightly to see Shippo and Rin still curled up in Kilala's fur. It was understandable that they were tired – they probably had more fun than the rest of the village put together. "They were so tired," I laughed as she looked over my shoulder and we giggled together. "If you'd like, you can join me on my patrol. I'll admit that it's incredibly boring before I subject you to it." I smiled when she nodded nostalgically; taking the extra bow and quiver I pulled from beside the door.

I would make habit of carrying the black blade that pulsed in my touch until I slung it around my waistband and looked at the grinning priestess outside. I wanted to distract her mind from whatever was being said between the demon I was beginning to understand and her beloved, for not even Sesshomaru's expressive eyes let me know what needed to be said between those two. The patrols were probably the most tiresome time of my morning because nothing ever came to the barrier and could pass through, so it was the perfect distraction. But Nozomi, even from beyond the grave, spurred me on to these patrols because sometimes it was necessary to end the suffering of demons that tried to get passed the wall of energy.

We trudged through the snowy grass, a comfortable silence as her aura reached out to mine. I liked the childlike aspect it carried – innocent and sweet. "Your power astounds, Kagome-sama," she announced as we both watched a demon run away from the clear film of the barrier after burning itself. I couldn't believe the title she bestowed. It sounded so weird when applied to me. "I feel your protection give hope to these people, and I wish for the family I might have someday to feel such warmth and comfort. For my entire life, I have feared demons and evil destroying my loved ones, but here…it feels like the home I, and Inuyasha, have never known. If it isn't too much to ask, because we both know Inuyasha never will, I would be honored to stand beside you, reside beside you, in this incredible place."

Did I want Kikyo to be a part of my life? Did I want the constant reminder that she had what I always wanted as mine? …Did it even matter anymore? I shut my eyes and smelled his honey, tasted it across my tongue as I had last night in our moment of divine weakness, and saw his golden orbs staring at me with a foreign tenderness. There was no reason for me to say no. There was no reason for me to hate her for taking Inuyasha because what happened between us allowed me to reach for…him. I bared her no ill feelings, no hatred, only saw her almost as close to me as Sango was. "There was a time in my life when I would have cursed you for suggesting such a thing," I admitted shamelessly as a cool breeze blew between us. "I used to hate you because whenever he looked at me he thought about you, but now…" I bit my lip, staring at her with all of the emotion Sesshomaru sparked inside of me, and she seemed to understand that it didn't matter anymore.

"You care for another," she smiled, nodding her head in acceptance of what used to be and embracing what we were now.

"I never thought it would be possible, but I think he and I need each other. If not as lovers bound together by emotion deeper than I've ever known, then as two parts of the same center that has been seeking closeness for centuries. So, yeah, you can stay. I'm already looking forward to seeing your family grow with him."

And I would be left the old maid in the village, the woman that could never find her other half. I would be the woman everyone respected, everyone looked up to, but could never find the sense of love my friend's had because it didn't exist for me – no matter how hard I tried to place Sesshomaru into that role. He would never want it. He hated humans, tolerated me in moment of what he would call weakness, and had responsibilities to his lands that fell above all else. One day, he would find a demoness with hair dark like the night, eyes warm like caramel, and produce an heir to reign when he became too old.

Again, the situation left me alone – with my hope that I might bring happiness to everyone else, and I didn't mind taking such a role. It brought me happiness to see the soft smile on Kikyo's pink lips, to see Sango swell with the child that was product of her affection for Miroku, and I hoped one day I would see Shippo so exultant with his chosen mate. We came full circle, rounding the village at the mouth of a path that lead to the south and looked over the village.

"Thank you, Kagome-sama," Kikyo whispered, hugging me close before she walked ahead of me towards the home that I mentioned lie only a few paces from where Miroku and Sango were to reside now. I could see Inuyasha standing beside Sango and Miroku in the village center, Kikyo jumping into his arms with a kiss on her lips. They had all found happiness, and all that was left was defeating the man that threatened that happiness. As I watched their cheerfulness I felt the tug of my own solitude creeping down my spine…until a very familiar red aura wrapped around me, spreading fervor across my entire being with its affection.

* * *

"What the hell is so important that it takes me away from my mate, asshole?" Inuyasha spat his disapproval in my direction when I stopped a fair distance from any listening ears or prying eyes.

I remembered her smile as I pressed my lips to her neck, I could feel her hands running down my arms; hear her gasps as my muscles rippled under her touch and her touch alone. It was something I had never felt, something I never expected to. I did not understand the witchcraft she had placed upon me. Certainly it had to be that. "Does she make you weak, Inuyasha?" I wondered, staring at the gray clouds above as her whisper of a chuckle touched my skin, caressing the chill across it. I could see the young warrior in the field, touching her with his very stare like he wanted her to undress in front of him. I wanted to tear him to pieces for thinking of something that was min-. She was not. I would not say something of her that was untrue.

Inuyasha came to stand beside me and looked at me with his idiotic ears twitching inquisitively when he heard the growl from the miko's scared face flash through my head. "Kikyo could never make me weak," he admitted finally, when I showed that my interest in his life was not false with silence. "If anything she makes me stronger. She gives me reason to use old man's fang and the power to. Why?" I could hear curiosity dripping into him from the moment we walked away from every other demon that might hear my reason for bringing him out here. I needed to know what this was. I needed to know that I did not feel anything other an attraction toward that woman. Even as I stood beside her in the snow, safeguarding her, I could feel all of the Inu-youkai looking at her with desire, wonder …lust. It enraged me, even more so than the demoness had when my young general smiled at her with thoughts of her on her knees in his mind. She would kneel before no one.

But _why?_ Why would I never let another man touch her?

"How did you know you'd fallen in love with her?" I asked, ignoring his request to my reason. As much as I spoke it to myself, and my possessive demon, I couldn't help but wonder if this emotion was love. I had never known so warmth, such affection – not even in my youth before Mayumi's betrayal. I wanted to make her smile, see the desire in her eyes as her fingers touched my skin. I wanted to see her happy and if anyone threatened said happiness I would destroy them – or make it my life's mission to murder them slowly and torturously.

He scoffed, glaring at me hatefully before his stare softened. "I-I dunno, I just knew. I felt like there were no other people in the world the first time we kissed, I feel like she's my center when I'm around her. I dunno! Why the hell do you even care, Sesshomaru?" He griped; worry etching his features when I spoke of his woman.

"It is a simple question, Inuyasha. I have brought you away from anyone else that might hear your answer so you would speak the truth. What does love feel like?" I snarled, grabbing onto the front of his kimono when he rolled his eyes at me. His smart-ass expression had left, being replaced by inquisition and wonder.

"Love is warm," he responded when I dropped him and began to walk away. My footing faltered and I stood in between two large pine trees. Warm? "Love is a warmth that doesn't have to do with temperature, it's complicated. You just see her, and there's nothing else. You feel her touch even after she's gone and hear her in your head when you miss her. Are you in love with that gross looking demon woman or something? That's why you wanna know?" His softness had been replaced by the bravado again, but I felt my mind spinning – something that had never occurred before.

I missed her touch, even though I'd felt it only moments ago. I could hear her laughter in my head. I could hear my name as it spilled from her lips when my own touched hers, I could feel the lust her luscious blue depths brought me. Then, he spoke of Mayumi and I revulsion set in. I did not desire to see her soft smile only for me, as I did the Mik-_Kagome's._ Kagome. Her name tasted like sugar across my lips, even in whisper. I wanted to savor its taste for all time. "I do not love the demoness," I spoke as my shut eyes watched Kagome in my memories, standing below the moonlight with a blush across her pale skin. _So beautiful…_

He was standing next to me now, irritation rolling off of his aura. "Then why did you ask?" I ignored the poke he gave my shoulder and stared up at the clouds again, thinking of father's attraction to Inuyasha's mother. Did he feel like he wanted her beneath him but in the same moment wish to hear her whisper of things deeper than lust?

"What the hell is that?" he wondered, flicking his sword out protectively. I knew what this noise was. I heard it last night, all night, but now as I thought of her calling my name it began to pound louder – deafeningly.

"My heart," I snarled wondrously as it blared loudly beneath my flesh – even the hanyou could hear it. "It beats in time with hers when mind falls to her. She sees through the shit I tell everyone else and leaves me wondering how she can read me if she doesn't know me. I wish to know who she is, but feel as though I've known her for my entire existence. But I will not be weak," I growled, gripping the pine to hold myself up before the demon came out and murdered me. '_Within that weakness you'll find a power greater than any you've ever known_.' "Her voice haunts me, even now that I am away from her. I long to see her smile for me so that I might take her in my arms and hide her from the blackness of this world forever." I glared down at the snow covered earth, and he raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno what the hell you're out here asking me all this shit for." He grumbled as he jumped away from me hastily, shouting over his shoulder on his way to his woman. "If you're already in love with her, get your ass back to her before she wises up and sees the demon you _really_ are."

…already in love with the miko? Was it even possible for me to love? I was convinced when betrayal had only required a mask of ice to keep everyone out, that I was not able to love. My only happiness from this conversation with my half-brother was that he hadn't asked who she was after I denied it being the ancient demoness that still desired me. His words struck me deep. Would she even desire me after seeing blood on these claws? Would see even want to be mine knowing how many men I've killed without regret? Had I foolishly allowed myself to develop affection for a woman that would never desire me?

I stared into the reflective ice and found myself, for the first time in my life, cursing the markings across my face. Did they repulse her? I could feel her fingers tracing them in the night after our lips connected. Was my face revolting to look at when she knew the things it had seen? …what did I speak of? Desires to be different only so that she might love me? Pathetic. I did not need her love. I did not need her affectionate stare and I would make her release me from her spell, from this torture of seeing her in my mind when I was away from her.

I could feel her on the other side of the barrier as my white orb of energy fell short of the village. I could taste her despair. Who had harmed my miko? I bit my tongue for such thoughts. She was not mine. I walked through the welcoming energy and let my demonic presence wrap around her, filling her with my aura so I might see such sadness erased. My hand rested on her shoulder and found hers slither up her body to warm it with her own.

"Sesshomaru-sama," she whispered my name, a smile on her lips. The same smile that kept me right here – beside her forever. I was powerless to her watery eyes when she turned to me and looked into me with grief and angst lurking past their joyous nature. My thumb caught a single tear as it escaped her and my large hand cupped her cheek comfortingly, adulating the way she pressed into me. Whenever I was with her this way I felt my energy shift from the murderous desire for supreme conquest, the ability to kill every powerful demon. To this… passion that I didn't understand but found I could not live without any longer.

"Miko," my voice matched hers in haziness. "What has provoked such tears? Might I kill whoever disrupted your happiness?"

She laughed against me, pressing her tear stained face into my kimono as her lip quivered and she shook her head. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, trying to move away, but I would hold her until the shaking in her body stopped and her heartbeat matched mine once more. I hadn't the knowledge of human aliments, but perhaps this shaking was one of them and she needed something sturdy. "I'm just facing my humanity and it's scaring the hell out of me with all its worry." She wiped her tears away, smiling up at me when the trembling stopped. Humanity?

I saw what she did as I stared down on her village and knew exactly what she meant be facing herself. The slayer and the monk were beginning a family in a new home, the hanyou and his woman kissed in the snow, falling over with laughter and bliss on their faces, and she was up here protecting them. She was afraid…of being alone in this life. _Perhaps_, I looked at her pale face with a smirk on my lips, _we are no so different_. "Come," I nuzzled her cheek and grasped her cold hand as her eyes fell on the scene again. "Take a walk with me."

**A/N: So, I didn't add all of the shizz I wanted to in this chapter cause it would have been like 12,000 words, but it will continue in the next chapter, and be kind of sweet. Well, the Sesshomaru equivalent to sweet. **

**Review! :D**

**-Panda**


	18. It Will Rain

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, actually it's been written out on paper and my computer for a while now, I've just been having…idk balance problems? I'm so dizzy all the time I can barely sit at my laptop, it's maddening. Anyway, here it is, I hope you like it.**

**Title for it came from the song that has been stuck in my head all week, It Will Rain by Bruno Mars cause I think it pretty much fits the mood for this chapter perfectly. AND I'm sorry for the length. It's…definitely wordy. Lol**

**Chapter Twenty **

**It Will Rain**

I watched as the forest's nature enveloped her, kissing her cheeks with its desolation that seemed to match hers in weight and obscurity. How was it that this woman could make even the still trees swoon with desire for her touch as she passed? It was a wonder that I wasn't groveling at her feet by now like a weakling pup. Did the moon simply shine at night because she filled the days with her smile? Our hands hung loosely between us, connecting more than the corporal bodies our souls inhabited as one side of me wished to tear her apart in order to separate my body from this feeling, and the other wished to hold her even closer and lose itself in her lips, bring her smile back to selfish gaze.

She moved closer to me of unconscious will, finally dismissing my uncertainties by grasping my fingers so softly between hers with a delicious blush that made my demon moan inside of my chest. We traveled a path unknown to her in these northern forests; far from the peaceful touch of her barrier, and desire to bring her close arose. In her presence I did not feel like the killer we both knew I was, but as a man that had just found his purpose. Her affectionate ways had led to my weakness, to my questionability of my own self, but I could not find myself cursing her for it.

I should.

_Shut up and enjoy her. _

Without looking at her tear-stained face, I took tightened my claws around her fingers. I wished to share this place with her, to see her smile returned to her ruby lips as it should have never left place upon them. "I would offer apology," I mumbled in the darkness as her summer scent infiltrated my senses, turning the lust deep inside of me into fire. "For my previous actions toward you. I thought you to be intended to another and…I dishonored you." I felt shame for placing my lips upon those of a goddess when I knew that she would never be mine, never want me to remain beside her for the rest of our days. I found myself questioning my own desires for such an impossible thing. For how would a goddess in human flesh ever care for a soul of evil, a demon as terrible as I?

She laughed, but it was one without humor or joy, as I had so grown accustomed to hearing in the music that came from her lips when joy filled her breast. "You dishonor no one, Sesshomaru-sama. It is I who is to blame for what happened at the shrine, I dishonor you and the lands of the west with my inability to control myself."

A woman capable of seeing the smallest sliver of evil amongst purity could not see that my demon, my body, mind, and very soul, desired to taste her below that full moon. She did not speak words of regret, she did not move her limbs that had wrapped around my arm from place so did she desire the feeling as well? "You bring no dishonor to me or my lands, Miko." I assured her worried eyes, turning away from them so that I might not fall victim to her spell once more and offer further apology for weakness to her supple lips.

"Mayumi would disagree," she whispered, hatred slipping into her already black tone. Just the mention of that demoness sent my skin crawling and I glared down at her, snapping my view back to hers. What would turn thoughts to the evil of that woman when we stood alone in these woods? So free of obligation and expectation…my demon desired to have her this way for all time, even though such a feat was an impossibility because of her inferiority by birth and my rank as a demon lord.

My hands became fists when her gaze did not falter. "That creature does not have opinion in the things that happen between you and I," I growled, stopping her steady pace as I gripped her kimono tightly, my eyes red with rage, and I stared down at her. How dare she interrupt my peace with thoughts of such vile nature?

She looked up at my face, sadness trickling across her expression when she sensed the hostility inside of me. "She is your first love, is she not?" I could hear regret in her voice. Did she regret coming here with me? Did she regret having cared for me after knowing of the colorful woman in my past?...Did she honestly believe a creature like me felt love?

"Mayumi at one time in my life," I walked away from the miko, my eyes turned toward the clouded sky as memory of her old smile slithered into memory. "At one time in my life she seemed to be the air I breathed, yes. She was most cherished friend as I grew up in the western castle, so it was only natural that we were engaged to be mated as she grew into a woman and I into a man." I remembered her pale lips, my brows creasing at thought; they had been so unstained by death and untainted by falsehoods. She was beautiful, though, I did not feel the same longing in my chest as I did for the spiritual woman behind me even in memory of the best times spent with the demoness.

The desire for further explanation lurked in her depths, begging me to share even more of myself with her. My eyes closed and I turned my back to the miko, remembering the woman that I used to adore, and the sting of her betrayal.

"It was the night before we were to be mated, bound together forever in this eternal life. I was away, hunting with my closest friends – all except my general who had fallen ill a night before. But I desired to see her one last time before I called her mine, and I dismissed them so I might head back to my castle and find place in her bed." The miko flinched, blushing as I spoke of intimacies that had not happened and were never destined to. "It sounded as though someone was attacking her." I snarled at the images that flashed through my mind.

"I broke down the doors to her room and found her naked with the general's cock on her lips." The miko was bright red and I found a smirk across my lips at her expression – her scent that was so filled with lust. Were her thoughts on me? Did she feel heated desire for my touch?

"She betrayed me. She shamed me, dishonored her name, my house. I banished them from the castle the very same night, leaving them as naked as I had found them in the winter snow. And now…" I stared at Kagome, drinking in her melancholy expression until I came to stand in front of her, my claw bringing her face closer to mine. Her taste was all around me, intoxicating me until I found words. "Now she is an ancient whore who hasn't even the strength to fuck her beloved dragon." She bit her lip at my brash words, redness crossing her beautiful pale skin.

"Did you love her?" Her small voice whispered, her uncertain cerulean eyes staring up at me with need, a need to know the secrets lurking in the heart she ignited after centuries of silence.

I shook my head, my hand falling to place on her cheek when she sighed so deeply I thought she might fall to the ground. She pressed into affectionate touch, a small grin on her lips. "I do not know love."

Could she see the lie in my eyes? Did she hear the insincerity in my voice? The way her head turned down and she sighed softly told me that she hadn't. _Foolish woman, so blind to the world around you_. We continued on, her hand loose against my tight grip once more until we came around a bend in the trail and were faced with a thick tree of old. It stood against the snow, its bark blackened with age, its petals green as the spring grass in the meadow it guarded. She stopped, releasing me as she was drawn to it with wonder across her distraught features. She touched it, gasping from the obvious power it carried. I remembered my first reaction to the tree, and it had not been as gentle as hers was. I sought to slay it, to claim victory over it and show I was stronger than nature, stronger than any element.

"This tree is one of olden days, days your human eyes did not have the pleasure to behold." I touched the tree; my left hand came to place beside hers. She leaned into my touch, staring curiously at the black bark across it. "It belonged to a time when demons, humans and creatures of magic lived harmoniously throughout all of the lands." I recalled the tales my father told me in my infancy, the tales of the beings attracted to purity and kindness – something that the woman in my arms had been filled with at her birth.

They avoided me like as if I were a pestilence.

"I've never heard tales of the creatures of old," she whispered, touching the unhappy bark with her fingertips. She, just as well as I in my heightened state of power, could feel its pain; taste its sorrow because it no longer felt the affection of the world upon it. The necessity of affection and love…still in all of my years I did not understand such things.

My eyes went to the skies as white wisps of purity surrounded us, dancing in her aura. I took one of her hands in mine when they circled her, bringing her close to me so that the creatures might find place all along her body. The ancient yosei swirled around in the purity of her soul, kissing away her sadness and bringing a smile with every touch until she was laughing and twirling before me, her hand still clasped with mine until she fell against my chest again, a dazed smile still greeting her lips. "What are these?" She wondered as one rested above her heart, caressing her tired skin tenderly.

I spoke in her ear as my hands found their way to her waist when she stood still, and I was unable to move them away, feeling the soft skin below her kimono as it was exposed to me. "They are yosei, spirits born of the archaic world before you and I. They are the chill of the winter snow, the beauty of the spring sakura blossoms across the lands, the touch of heat," I fought a growl as my claws gripped her hips, bringing her closer to my desire, "in the midsummer's nights, and the kiss of death in the autumn when the moon turns orange up in the heavens."

They were attracted to her not because of the beauty I could see with my eyes, but because of the exquisite kindness inside of her soul. The creatures of the ancient worlds only revealed themselves to those absolutely pure, those without evil in their hearts. _How different we are – _my hands ghosted across her sweet skin, taking its softness as my own to be forever etched in my memories – _yet so very similar._ Our hearts beat together and I let myself hope like a fool that they always would. The small light creatures ascended the tree, dissolving into it as snowflakes did across her silky skin until more emerged, spreading through the air of the meadow. Her eyes met mine over her shoulder, glancing at me with widened, surprised orbs until she turning slowly in my clutches and her hands were resting on my armor, mine on her delicate waist. I felt the need to be even closer, to take her into my arms…and I fought it back with all of my being.

"It's beautiful here," she whispered, her eyes trailing all around the meadow as my claws ran through her loose locks, treasuring the feeling they brought my skin. She leaned against my chest again, sighing. "Thank you for sharing this place with me, Sesshomaru-sama." Her eyes had slid shut and she smiled against me, her arms wrapped around my middle so that she could press her face into the kimono across my chest. I…never wanted to let her go. How…?

How had I let myself become so attracted to her? How had I let that smile dictate my own contentment? My demon was weakened by her gentle touch to my shoulders, I was weakened by the way her lips finally turned upward, thanking me for sharing a part of myself with her – a part that I had never shared with any other being of this world. Yet, deep inside of me I felt the uncontrollable need to share everything with her, my life, my affection, my_ bed_ being the most urgent of the three.

I do not desire you.

The chill through the air raced across her skin as the sweet cinnamon air of winter crept through the regal pines, warming my frozen expression when she rested her head against my shoulder and wrapped her arms around my newly formed limb like I was not a demon that could rip her to pieces if desire took hold. We stood beside each other again, marveling at the wondrous tree that had passed through millennia unscathed.

_I desire your touch._

She stared up at me, turned to me, and wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing herself against me as I lifted her from the ground, my arms tightening around her with an unfamiliar need. I tasted her scent on my tongue as I breathed in her scent that had found place all around me.

I do not desire you as a mate.

My lips found place on her neck, so very gently nipping at the skin I wished to stain with my mark forever. She gasped and heavy eyes met mine, filled with longing.

_I never want to leave you. _

My hands cupped her cheeks, her hands tightened around my kimono as if she would never let go, and I could resist no longer. How many times had I told myself that I would never place my lips upon hers? Yet, I bent down and tasted her sweet lips in mine once more and she moaned from my tender touch.

I don't care what you feel.

Our auras, a deep blue and a soft purple haze, danced to the soft rhythm of our harmonious heartbeats like two lovers distanced through the afterlife had come together once more in this nefarious forest filled with the old yosei sprits. My demon wrapped itself around her, caressing her.

_I wish to see your smile brighten your face always. _

Our heartbeats set the rhythm to a melody that was as old as time itself when I gave way to the demon's wishes, joining our souls in the netherworld where I wanted them to stay intertwined for the rest of time. I frowned against her when hands wrapped around my neck, promising unconditional affection as she pressed against me and smiled along my lips.

Stay away from me, deceitful woman, as all of your kind are.

Her heart swelled and dropped as mine did in the night, perfectly complementing the dull thud inside of me with the excited thumping in hers. How had I ever believed her to be foolish and weak, how had I ever found deceit in those eyes?

_Come closer, my beautiful goddess…I have never known such warmth. _

Her taste intoxicated, her touch soothed every anxiety, the sweet whisper of a beating heart below flesh called me, bringing her small form flush against me below the steady falling snow from the afternoon sky.

So perfect.

My claws ran down her sides, memorizing every curve, drinking in every gasp from her lips when we parted for air that only she needed. Her legs crept around mine, wrapping around me in the most fitting way as I pressed her back against the tree, threatening to fill her with my hardened manhood.

_Mine. _

She stared up at me, a blush across her cheeks that always seemed to be, and as if it wasn't something we did just moments ago, our lips found each other over and over again as two parts of a soul would have beyond the darkness of death. I could not condemn her to a life immortal beside me, I would not see her become cold as I was.

…She will never be mine.

She tasted like the summer, smelled like the sweet rain that fell before the autumn colors took hold of the lands, she felt like the softest silk in my hands – she trembled as my tongue begged for entrance passed her warm lips. My demon snarled as lust raged through my body, stirring me to passion with the whimper passed her lips, and she submitted to me, her tongue fighting a useless battle with mine. I wanted her. I desired her. I _needed_ her.

_So pure_…my demon purred against her, pushing her into the heated tree further when her fingers ran through my hair to bring me even closer to her with a feverish sigh of yearning. I parted us, regretting it as soon as her hurt eyes opened to mine like she was lost without the gentle serenity one uncomplicated kiss brought us both.

"Release me," I beseeched, feeling desire swell in my chest as my lips found place on her neck, biting and tasting tender flesh. Release me, for your own good and for mine… She moaned against me, shaking her head as if she hadn't any idea of what I spoke, only pressed her hips against mine again, her body molding perfectly against mine. "Release me from whatever magic you have cast against me, woman." I found my voice light, carefree, my lips pressing to hers once more when familiar grin spread across them.

"Magic?" she whispered, our touches becoming rushed, needy. I found myself gazing at any amount of skin that peeked from below her clothing, and wanted to see even more. My claws ran up the exposed flesh from below her kimono, touching her boney ribs hungrily. She untied the armor across my chest, letting it sink to the ground as her hands ran across my kimono, her eyes turning black with lust when the fabric parted before her hands, exposing my chest. I stopped her hands, pressing my lips to hers once more, slowing the rhythm between us. If she touched me, if her hands went astray and trailed down my chest, a greater purpose in their nature…I would not be able to stop the demon roaring inside of his cage.

"I have never felt such undesired need for another," I explicated with a snarl as my lips pressed against her cold skin, leaving a trail of my scent from her collar bone to the base of her neck. "I wish to be close to you and then I wish for you to release me from your sorcery. I wish to kiss you," as if to prove my words my lips were on hers again, tasting her sweet essence as a groan came to pass my mouth. "And taste something that will repel, but each time I find you more breathtaking."

She blushed as eyes met once more, leaving us both exposed – left bare without our disguises that were necessity when dealing with anyone but each other. I would never show my façade to her again when we were alone like this. When words did not pass her lips, my moon rested against her forehead, begging her silently to explain what she had done to me. How had she captivated me so? "You have bewitched me," I whispered against her parted lips, panting from closeness and hunger. "And I do not wish to be parted from you ever again."

Such fucking weakness – how had I become so like Inuyasha and my father, so soft for one human woman? I growled to myself, forbidding such words…but found I could not take the words spoke to her back. I would not let anything, even my stupidity, take away what was standing in front of me. I would be brave enough for both of us, I would kill anything that threatened her happiness…and mine.

Her eyes, so innocent and wide, opened to look at me with endearment and the same emotion I could feel all around us from the yosei spirits: had she been feeling this all along? Was I the blind man who had seen the sun after one touch of an affectionate nature? After one kiss from those rosy lips, had I let myself fall into place beside her? "Then don't go," she begged, standing on the tops of her toes only to press her heated kiss against me, sending all my hopes of ever letting her go into abeyance. How was I ever going to tell this woman no?

Her body pressed against me, golden lights descended from the leafy branches, turning into the hue of summer's honey as they wrapped around us – kissing her cheeks, lifting sadness and exhaustion from them as I held her close to me, my lips never leaving hers. My arms tightened around her middle, hers tightened around my neck, pressing her breast to my chest in the most delicious way. I had never felt such serenity, ever tasted such affection.

We parted and I smirked at her, the feeling foreign to my lips but the action drew her grin wider than it had ever been. She pressed her face into my neck, her hands trailing down my chest, across the muscles on my arms, until they rested between mine again. Such serenity…my eyes narrowed down at the witch. I did not need these emotions. I did not need her. I could walk away right now…I could leave her silken smile behind me until the end of time if I so desired.

"I know you do not need me, Sesshomaru-sama, but I hope that you enjoy being beside me as I enjoy being with you." She mumbled the words against me, and I froze, staring down at her wondrously as her eyes became devilish. Had she read my thoughts, heard the weakness and defamations they spoke? "You talk to yourself entirely too often." She smiled, pressing a kiss to my cheek before she moved away from me, sparking need in my chest, but weakness vanished when the noise she had heard graced ears and both of our eyes turned to the skies.

Giant, red winged creatures dipped below the clouds, headed for the village where they would be welcomed. Old friends, yes, and from past relation I knew that Totosai's people were peaceful when not provoked. They awaited us, and that meant that the time of peace that had taken over my entire body was coming to an end.

"Come, should you not wish to freeze to death, Miko." I called, already ten paces ahead of her with my eyes shut, boredom coating them. She took one last look at the spring tree, her fingers gracing the white lights, and came to my side. She leaned against me and I narrowed my eyes at her, but did not object to her touch. It was I that had taken her hand after all of the things that had happened and it was I that had sworn to slay sadness had it ever crossed her perfect face.

My mind was swimming with wonder; my body was like fire and my lips, swollen and hot, sparked with the sensation of her against them. She…cared for me. She desired me. The look upon her eyes told me that she would not leave me as everything else had. I watched her from afar when I walked over to the man sitting atop a flying, three eyed cow, nodded to him and commenced dispersing the troops to where they belonged. The flying phoenix's from before had transformed into humans once again, and they were the sturdy warriors from memory. They were cloaked in red armor, their faces calm and uncaring, until their leader came from the skies and fell to the ground with a terrible demonic aura that made my demon smirk in anticipation. He was not evil, but he was powerful.

His eyes were deep red like wine, his skin alabaster pale like the Miko's, his armor was black instead of the red his general's wore, and there was a smile on his face as he saw me, a friend as old as time to him. "It's good to see you, brother," I nodded in respect as he grinned widely.

I found myself staring at Kagome from afar, when the phoenix man as he embraced me as he always did when we met. We were inside of the safety of the barrier now, and I couldn't help but miss the serene air around the ancient tree of ages, the tree that I was sure had birthed all of the others, to be beside her alone again. But her eyes, those depths that had burned as they stared into my soul, grasping me with their affection and desire, still haunted my sight. I could still feel her lips above mine, taste her want, and feel my hardness between her legs, spreading even more wetness to her slick folds as she groaned in my ear.

I fought moans at the feeling that still lurked inside of me. Had I ever felt lust before today? My eyes shut and I saw my lips pressed to her neck, felt my teeth biting that sweet skin. I wanted more. _"I do not wish to be parted from you ever again."_ My own words were heavy with an emotion I claimed not to possess; an emotion my very being was very close to the edge of falling into. I sighed at the meaning those words carried, and felt my center calm and swirl around her. I would never leave her, not from this day until the end of time. In whatever emotion I felt for her, I had sworn my loyalty to her with every kiss, perhaps I might spend the rest of my days mate less, but she would be beside me as most cherished friend and closest ally.

My eyes turned to the troops, the dog demons, the dragons, all greeted each other like an old family that they would have been had they not been separated by one singular woman that ruined the happiness of our intended mating. If she had simply become my mate and betrayed me afterwards, these families would not have been separated.

I glared at her, cursing the memories when her eyes turned to me from across the meadow. I stared off toward the Miko, showing hidden warmth deep inside of my soul for only her to see before I turned back to the leaders of each respective clan instead of slaying the demoness. "Miko," I called over to me coldly, getting the attention of everyone in the meadow. It went silent, and she gripped her bow nervously. With a blush across her perfect face, she nodded and came over to where I stood beside what were arguably the most powerful demon men in the world without fear in those perfect eyes.

"These plans concern you as well," I reminded her, as she spoke for the village the demon we fought would be attacking. "Introduction has slipped my mind. Of course you remember the dragon general of the east, Raijukin." I narrowed his eyes as the man took her hand, placing a kiss to my flesh before letting it be known that it was a pleasure to meet her. I kept my demon from ripping his head from his body until he released her. "And this is Kaji, the phoenix general of the southern lands." I smirked at the suspicious demon man, and they bowed their heads respectfully.

Kaji smiled at me, marginally, but I knew his suspicion was born of the scent of the miko which had to be all over me. "If anyone in either of your armies is to disturb the village and manage to not be purified, I will slay them mercilessly so that blood might not rest on her hands. She is not to be touched, she is not to be bothered uselessly, and if any creature has plans that match what the young warrior of my lands had, your fate will mirror his." My eyes turned to a pile of ash that lie smoldering beside the lake and she gulped. Just for touching her… that man deserved death.

I listened as she turned away with erratic heart, fear that I had killed my own man for touching her seeping into her being. She greeted Totosai shakily, and I paused in midst of the battle plans to listen to his warning. "I see you haven't used that sword yet," he eyed the black blade tied at her delicate waist. "It's crying for your touch, you know. It was crafted so that it might be used by the most powerful being in the entire island and it desires to harness your power and give you strength. You are that being, Kagome. You are the only being powerful enough to destroy Sesshomaru, yet, it is he who is the protector of your life and the lifeblood inside of this sword. Use it wisely, and as soon as possible. But heed my warning, if you should not accept the power, or you fear the protector of your life, or you are unsure of yourself, it will reject you until such a time when your heart has opened to both the yin and yang of the spirit warrior that lurks inside of you." My eyes narrowed by the end of his speech, and it was I that gave answer to his ominous warning.

"She shall use it this night, Totosai, under the full moon. I shall be there if such an occurrence is to pass." I moved to assured the sage and he nodded once before departing to yell at Inuyasha for the mistreatment of the Tetsusaiga. She twitched when my hand fell to my shoulder, and smoldering gazed turned to her. She feared my touch. "If you knew what he had planned, you would have killed him yourself. It was not I that did that to the young one, but your barrier." I turned away from me the infuriating woman, going back to the strategizing demon lords as she stared at the ashes. If his plans led to his destruction then I was glad he was destroyed before I had been able to uncover them and see her cower in fear of my temper for the rest of her existence.

"Who is she to you?" Kaji asked, nudging me as his eyes fell on the dark haired beauty with eyes as deep as the ocean. The leaders of the clans, including myself, watched as she took Rin's hand in hers and headed up the trail to the village, but not without turning toward me before they had. Her long hair blew across her shoulders, her curves below the white haori were left exposed from a rogue winter's gust, but even the passive Phoenix beside me swallowed thickly when her plump lips formed a smile: a smile only meant for my eyes.

Damn that woman and her ability to make any living creature turn to putty in her grasp. I growled and his eyes dropped from her god like figure. "She is the miko of the human village here, nothing more." My heartbeat betrayed me as I spoke the profane lies against the emotion inside of me.

"Then tell me old friend," he laughed as she disappeared around the bend with the Kitsune and my Rin. "Why is your scent _all_ over her if she is simply a priestess that means nothing to you?" Humor was thick in his red eyes, yet I found nothing humorous in my obvious weakness for the woman that plagued my insatiable mind.

I glared at one of my closest friends of the south. "Kaji, should you think that I've grown weak in age, perhaps a demonstration is in order." I cracked my knuckles, eager to feel anything other than his extraneous warmth she gave.

He snorted as he raised his hands in surrender. "You know I'm not stupid enough to challenge you, and anyone to call you weak would be." He chortled, calming my flaring temper with his reassuring smile. "However, I feel that I must comment on your choice of women; she is more beautiful than the moon in the sky, my friend. Only imperfection now is that her smile only crosses that perfect face for one man, and I damn you for that. I should've liked to get to know that lovely priestess a bit more…"

I moved to sever head from body when he spoke of her in such a way, but found he was already laughing at my reaction from the other side of the meadow, beside Totosai. _Scheming fool will never touch her_. She bared no imperfection, like he spoke of. She was a beauty beyond compare, her heart held kindness that made the trees which had long since retreated into themselves come alive again; even she even possessed the ability to spark an ancient emotion in this demon's black heart when all hope for it had been lost. She was truly a wondrous creature to behold. My feet had begun to travel closer to her simply as thoughts trailed to her beautiful skin below my claws.

"Sesshomaru." A voice that made my insides turn to adamant called behind me, and I snarled in the back of my throat as the demon moved to strike from within his cage.

"Should you not be occupied in the arms of that whore before she's met with death?" I growled, glaring into his yellow eyes.

"I request word, one of nature that does not have to do with battle."

I smirked at him, my eyes the windows of my rage. "I do not wish to discuss anything that is not of that nature with the likes of you, Raijukin." I began to walk away from the man until his scaled hand gripped my left arm.

"I beg of you, Sesshomaru," he all buy pleaded on his knees. I had never seen a demon so distraught. Interest to his reason was the only cause that stopped me from going to her – to keep her safe from_ him_.

"Mayumi really is dying as we speak, Sesshomaru. Her body has taken effect to the poison that is my seed. I beg of you to beseech the aide of the miko to save her life before death finds place in her heart." He begged me to ask my miko to save a woman that had threatened my life. That was reason enough for Kagome not to.

"You expect me ask that woman to save the life of the demoness that betrayed me, that continues to betray me?" We both recalled her assassination attempt, as pathetic as it was.

He sighed and released me, his troubled eyes going to the snow at our feet. "I know at one time in your existence you cared for her, so please," he begged again and my eyes flashed red from his request. "Please save her, if not for me for whatever you had with her."

He expected me to save the woman that took the man I could have been away from Kagome and replaced him with the coldness she saw when gazing upon my face? "I have forgiven, but I will never forget what both of you have done, not only to me, but to my lands." My hand was around his throat, threatening his worthless life as well as hers. As I stared down at him all that grazed sight were the memories. I could taste Mayumi's arousal, see her lust-filled eyes as she looked upon him, wrapping herself in his embrace, and when she turned to face me, I dropped him to the ice below us. I was staring wildly at the forest because replaced in memory was the face of a beautiful woman with deep blue depths, smiling at me with all of the warmth and purity in this world from within the circle of my arms. _Sweet summer rain…_

She could see the good in all things evil; she could warm the snow with her affection and make the flowers of this grassland bloom amongst the frost. She would not let someone die from love, such trivial nonsense as it was. Raijukin pleaded with his eyes as my calmed windows turned on him once more. "I shall ask her, and the life of your whore will rest on her choice, for I would have her perish."

Without listening to his words of gratitude, I ran up the wooded trail, following the sweet rain of summer to where I knew she would be. She stood outside of her home, her hand occupied with a weeping girl from the village. I slowed my pace and watched curiously at the scene unfolding in front of my eyes. "Oh, shh," she calmed the young girl as I approached. Her eyes flashed to me and she smiled, but applied a paste to the girl's reddened fingers. Her crying stopped and she smiled up at the miko, giggling as she wiggled her fingers, free of pain. "There, now don't go sticking your hands on anymore pots, sweetie." She grinned, shooing the girl off so that she might rejoin her kin. She waved from her doorway and my demon purred toward her.

_A natural mother…_

Silence.

"Miko," I growled in her direction, unable to contain my beast any longer. I swallowed when the scent of her arousal tickled my senses, bringing me closer. She hummed in acknowledgement. "I will ask one thing of you, if I may."

She smiled offering me a cup of tea and shelter from the cold when we entered her home, the home that was so filled with her sweet scent that I almost lost my demon at the doorway. "Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin's hyperactive voice bellowed and the young girl was wrapped around my leg, hugging me tightly for only a moment. "Kagome has made soup and grilled meats! Won't you join us?" She tugged on my hand, and as much as the impulse to indulge her told me I did, I had not come for my Rin this afternoon.

"Perhaps when we return Rin, but I must speak with Kagome for a moment." My eyes met the Miko's from across the fire pit and she nodded calmly, a soft smile on her lips as Shippo jumped from her shoulder.

"Please finish your soup, Rin-chan. We will be at the shrine if either of you should need us." She rose from place on the floor, teacup in hand, and led me from the people dear to both of us. I shared look with Rin that promised I would be back, before following the miko up the steps. She took the cup from me and sighed. More than what I had to say hung on her mind, and at sight of distress my hand shot up to claim hers, to bring her the same peace she brought me.

"I know what you have come to me for," she whispered as we shared a look at the Shinto Kami of her shrine, and her hand tightened around mine. "Mayumi is dying. You do not wish for me to save her life."

Without words, she seemed to take my aura wrapping around her comfortingly as answer. "How did you know of her imminent, well-deserved, demise?"

She came closer to me, wrapping my arm around her in the process as she stared at the Kami inside of the temple. "I can feel everything under this barrier. In this moment, I can feel Kaji training with Raijukin's men, training them to fight lightning with fire. I can see the flame spill from Totosai's lips as he mends Tetsusaiga…and I can feel Mayumi's struggling breath from the dragon's tent in the meadow. I do not move to heal her because I do not wish to overstep my boundaries with you. If you wish for her to die, I will stand by and do nothing. If you wish for me to save her, I shall, and I will be grateful to you for allowing me to save a life." She promised, turning toward me as she spoke. Her hand rested on my chest, mine cupped her soft face…tasting the uncertainty inside of her.

She desired my word to carry out what she knew was the right thing. _Loyal, above all…_ "Can you save the child inside of her?" I wondered, seeing her eyes brighten by the words of good coming from my lips. They were quite rare, and only came to life when alone with her on occasion like this.

"I can try," she responded, her hands running up to take place at my neck. She pulled me closer and pressed her forehead to mine, thanking my permissive words. My lips begged to touch hers, yet I found myself calmed by her touch, no lust ran through me. "Thank you for allowing me to do what is right, Sesshomaru-sama." She whispered, shutting her eyes as a sense of peace came over both of us, a sense of unity from the simultaneous heartbeats we could both hear in the night.

I raised claw to her chin, glaring down at her as her heartbeat sluggishly, unevenly. "I do this for you, not for her. Surely you must know that." She had to. She had to know if it were not for her sadness I would let that bitch die where she lie.

She pressed her lips to my fingers, nodding as I stared at her curiously. "Surely," she laughed, turning her beautiful depths on me. "Come, time is short." I nodded and dropped her waist from my grip as we set off toward the scent of death and decay coming from the furthest tent in the meadow. It only took moments of leisurely running beside her, but she stopped me before we got there by gripping my hand tightly.

"I need to get something first," she assured my curious stare, pointing toward the pathway that led to the pool that gave Inuyasha's woman life and me an arm back. I turned face to her with untrusting, unfaithful eyes. If the Kami's she prayed to were put into this, Mayumi would be slain before the water even touched her lips, and sadness would grace Kagome's heart.

"If you are to leave the decision to them…"

She shook her head, biting her swollen lips. "I won't, I'm going to use the water to my purpose so she will live." Mind still could not put reason to her desire to save a woman that had done her nothing but wrong since she arrived. How, in her human heart, did she find compassion for a demon woman as dark as the nightmares of the underworld? I wished nothing more than to see her die, but, I knew if that came to pass the pain inside of the miko would outweigh my pleasure.

We stopped at the peaceful waterfall and, with hand in hers, I aided her to pass through the water easily. We stared into the clear depths, inhabited by koi and new life, and she took some of its water into a vile across her neck. I could hear the screams of the demon woman as death neared and my eyes widened when the Miko's head turned in the direction with horror in her eyes. She feared death. "There isn't time," she whispered. "You'll have to carry me the rest of the way."

…_Hold her close to me as I ran_?

I swallowed thickly at the thought of her legs straddling me, her body moving up and down with each stride I took, her breast pressed up against my back…and then another shriek came through the night and her eyes darkened with despondency. I nodded and took her hand in mine as she wrapped her legs around my waist, pressed her chest into my back, and sent my demon screaming for more as her arms wrapped around my neck. My hands found place on her thighs, holding her close so that she might not fall from me as I ran. I had never carried anything on my back, and having the woman my demon desired to fuck gave me reason to do this much more often.

We reached the silent meadow, demons of all clans staring at the blood-scented tent with wondrous eyes. Kaji stared at the woman on my back as she came to her feet, running to the aide of the demoness. I was quick to follow, ignoring the whispers from the warriors of my lands. If Kagome was to be in the tent with the two traitors, I would not leave her side.

But what I saw when I entered the tent stopped me and my eyes widened in shock. Mayumi lie in the blankets, shivering from the chill of winter across her withered, gray skin. Her once beautiful violet eyes had turned gray, and blood trickled from her eyes and mouth. Kagome was quicker to move than I, for all I could see was my best friend lying before me…about to cross over into the afterlife and I was the child that helped her up when she fell down again. I was the child that ran through the castle of the west with her, stirring up chaos with every step. I was the child that fell in love with her sweet smile that was so human amongst all of the cold glares of the demon world. Her betrayal seemed so insignificant as I stared down at her with saddened golden depths from my past.

"We've made it in time," the Miko mumbled, taking supplies from inside of her kimono, and bringing me back to the present where I found that same innocence in her smile, found the same affection in her touch as she ran beside me with purpose. "Mayumi, I need you to hold on just for a few more moments, and I will take the pain away, okay?" She promised the words, staring deeply into the demoness's eyes.

Mayumi shifted uncomfortably as Kagome's pure skin touched her. I came to sit beside the woman and she stared at me in shock, as if she hadn't seen me in her entire life. "Se-Sesshomaru? What are you doing here?" She smiled, touching my skin with her wrinkled hand. I had never seen another demon in such a state and it kept even my raw demon silent, but I felt not sadness for her, only regret. _Such a foolish thing to do_…I stared at the Miko placing herbs in the holy water…_for love_.

"The miko desires to save your life, not I." I answered her hopes, killing them before they were born. "If it were up to me you would die this night." My words did not lie. I hated what she had become because of her love for the dragon. I hated that she chose him over me, and broke all of my trust in the process. Love was a thing of fools. Yet…

I found myself watching as Kagome worked over the undead corpse, pressing light into various parts of her body and getting gasps of pain from the demoness's lips, and found there was nothing I would not do for her. There was no enemy I would not defeat to be beside her. There was no weakness I would not overcome to see her smile. There was no strength that could ever tear her from my side now…and if Mayumi left me in pursuit of that maybe she did not deserve to die. Maybe it was as the miko had said: there was a greater strength when you gave into weakness. "Sesshomaru, I need you to hold her down. She is going to try and transform when I do this," Kagome interrupted my proud thoughts with her severity and I nodded, letting my demon come to place on my expression.

"Do not touch me," I snarled at the miko, a warning that she did not take lightly from my true self. "I do not wish to end your life." When agreement sat upon her expression and she uncapped the Kami water, my eyes were glowing red in the reflection of Mayumi's, my claws found place at her neck, and I snarled down at her demon, scaring the ancient beast into submission as I hovered above her.

The miko came to perch the vile at Mayumi's lips and she let the water from the pool of purity slide passed her lips slowly. My grip tightened when the demoness howled in agony, thrashing against my hold with the last amount of energy that remained in her broken body. "What's happening?" Raijukin raged helplessly from the doorway of his tent when the light slithered down her throat, passed her chest, and landed over the fetus growing inside of her. She moaned lowly as the light turned golden, soothing the pain and worry from her features.

With widened eyes, the general and I watched with widened eyes, as she changed. Kagome muttered words under her breath, holding prayer beads in her left hand and pressing with her right to the skin over the demoness's heart. That was when her face began to change into one I knew long ago. The wrinkles of poison and time vanished, leaving pale, glowing radiance. The gray in her silver hair lightened, lengthening it. The blood red of her eyes twitched one last time before being replaced with invigorating violet that stared up at the heavens in wonder, and her broken body mended the wounds inflicted over these many centuries, leaving her curved and full as she had been before. Her chest snapped up, healing the broken bones of her demon and humanoid forms until the light vanished into nothingness, leaving behind a woman only found in memory.

She parted her bright lips, gasping for air that her person had been deprived of, and stared up at Kagome's friendly smile unbelievingly. "I've given you a second chance, a chance to do what is right," she mumbled lowly. "Your body will never be affected by the difference in your mate's again. You will give birth to healthy children and live forever once more. My only request from you is apology." Mayumi immediately turned to me, her lips quivering from the happiness I could smell inside of her. Happiness that would be eternally owed to the Miko who cared too much for life to see it wasted. She gave her immortality; she gave her life that she did not deserve.

"Not to him," Kagome shook her head, surprising me and the dragon at the doorway who was still too stunned to speak. "To me."

And, in a way that women often seemed to do, Mayumi understood her hidden meaning, and gave nod of thanks. Eyes narrowed in suspicion for what was not being said by the woman of my desire, and for the explanation that did not spill from the demoness's lips. "I shall be forever grateful, Miko-sama. I cannot even display my apology for words alone would not suffice."

Kagome took the demoness's hand and shook her head quickly before she stood. "That's all I needed. Stay inside; your vessel still requires rest. I shall come by tomorrow morning to supply an herbal tea for the child growing within you." Without another word to the stunned woman, she turned and exited the tent, leaving me beyond any confusion I had ever been in.

"I shall be in my village should you need me, Sesshomaru-sama." She spoke with words so cold, but I could not find the meaning for such indifference.

She had just given the woman life and did not expect anything but a feeble apology in return and when faced with me she turned unresponsive and cold? I glared at her as she smiled at Kaji and headed toward the pathway back to her village, and exited the tent when Raijukin came to his senses and pummeled the woman waiting for him in their makeshift bed. Pride expanded inside of me as she watched over the troops from the hillside, her wise eyes staring down at all of them until they came to rest upon me in the setting sun. It was then, as her strong eyes met mine, that I realized I had been entirely wrong about this maddening woman. She was not my weakness.

She was my strength. She was the emotion swelling inside of my chest. She was…_everything_.

"Go find her, Dog!" Totosai commanded, striking me over the head with his hammer, ending my moment of clarity. I glared down at the old man, fire in my eyes. "She needs to use that sword; it's practically sobbing for her touch after seeing her power!" He wailed, flailing around like a fish when out of water. I watched the way she walked, swaying those perfect hips, and found a smirk across my demon's lips.

_There are things I desire to do with her at the moment that have nothing to do with educating her on proper sword usage…_

Agreed.

* * *

The sun was setting across the lands, melting the snow as the clouds parted for its journey to the other side of the world. How had I let the day get away from me so easily? I smiled as water trickled down from the trees, grazing my kimono as I walked up the path. Saving her life had been something I desired to do from the moment I felt her death tugging at my barrier. I just…didn't know if it would hurt him to do so. I knew he hated her, but could he really hate someone who was so willing to die for love? I snorted. "Knowing Sesshomaru, I'm sure he would." I spoke lowly to myself, sighing at nature as it came toward the warmth of the sun as the day ended.

This entire day, I felt his aura wrapped around me, caressing me, kissing me until I was blushing. Whatever had happened between us in the field of old, it had been significant. There was no going back now. I accepted what I felt…but did he? Did he accept the way my aura wrapped around his life a lover, not a friend seeking warmth in his company? Doubtful, yet I found myself hoping. Even know, I could feel him traveling toward me, but I didn't know what to think when his eyes turned from me back in the tent to her – with sadness. Perhaps he was simply sad to see her so close to death, but what if he still loved her? What if he still desired her, and simply was waiting for the right time to win her heart back? He seemed not know what I spoke of when I asked for her apology, even though it was obvious that I sought apology for turning him into the cold man he was. She took away his affection from me, she made him believe love was weakness…and I doubted I would ever feel the warmth from his love because of her actions.

"What has you so lost in thought, Miko?" His voice intruded my self-conscious thought, and I smiled over at him, an action I knew gave him pleasure beyond any touch.

"Everything that has happened today," I whispered, finding my eyes fixed on the pathway as we deviated from it and headed into the forest again. "The very good things," as if to say I liked what happened between us I took his hand, "and the things that still confuse me."

He glared down at me, his mask no raised but not yet diminished as it had been in the ancient meadow. I could see everything upon his expression; taste every emotion as his tongue caressed mine. "What plagues your thought, then?"

We entered a meadow known to me, a meadow that in the spring held the most beautiful flowers and the sweetest smelling grass in all of the northern lands. I turned to face him in the sunlight and caught myself mesmerized in his stare. "I must know one thing from you," I began so formal it sounded weird coming from my lips. "I need to know what you feel for her, I just…I can't go through the same thing I did with…"My eyes fell from his when they tightened and I felt stupid for even thinking he felt the same thing I did. He probably just wanted to fuck me and leave, to get my body out of his mind, as Inuyasha did when he saw Kikyo inside of me. But I had not let Inuyasha seep so deeply into my heart, as I had the demon lord.

He smirked against my skin as his arms wrapped around me, his lips finding place at my neck. "I feel nothing for her," he spoke with softness, but I couldn't find the courage to stare at his eyes. "I watched in the tent as you revived a woman I hadn't known in many years and your power surprised me, nothing more. Put her out of thought, she means nothing between us." He commanded, taking my chin with his claw as he had done so many times today.

"What is between us?" I wondered, staring at him bravely.

His eyes narrowed when the smirk of death crossed his expression, but instead of strangling me, his lips pressed very softly but firmly to my forehead, swirling lust through my loins. Was he showing me that forevermore his loyalties would lie with me, and no other? I rested my nose against his, earning a smile for such actions, for showing such warm passion, and his words graced me again. "I haven't the slightest idea."

Perhaps then, that was good. I didn't want to name these feelings and scare him away from them, even though my mind, my heart, knew their name. I stared up at him, accepting his aura and wrapped my own around his demon softly. It was in that very same instant that I felt something calling to me, in the back of my mind, pulsing like a lifeline. "What…?" I wondered, staring up at him as his ears twitched, but his eyes moved down to my waist – to the sword tied there.

"Do you feel it?" he wondered as his arms left my body and he came to stand behind me, his lips at my ear. "Can you hear it calling for you?"

I felt something, something expelling a white aura against me, scaring away his demon. I almost cursed it for that until I felt it wrap around me, leaving my breathless. I felt energy surging through my limbs, felt the light seeping into my skin and when my hands unsheathed the sword, it began to sink past my skin into me. I gasped, breathing deeply, and the only thing that held me to the ground where his arms tightly placed at my waist. The light began to vanish, leaving behind the warm buzz from inside of the glowing black blade as I stared at it in wonder. What was this feeling, the energy filling me?

"I can feel…"I gasped as the blade called to me, begging to be a part of my power like sweet fiery rain, drenching me where I stood in the safety of his arms. It called to me in the darkest depths of my mind. A voice that was so sweet, so innocently bringing me even closer to Sesshomaru's honey smell. "I can feel you," I whispered to him, a tear falling from my eyes as a feeling of eternal serenity washed over me. His stone form molded against mine, and when it did I could see the wind, the light coming from inside of my chest until it began to radiate through the blade.

The sound of a chuckle in my ear got my hands burned by the blade, and I dropped it to the snow, hissing at the feeling of it rejecting me. I glared up at him, but I couldn't find it in myself to frown at his peaceful eyes. His turned me toward him, taking my hand in his and brought his lips to the glaring burns, a soft smile that I had never seen gracing his face. He placed a very soft, very direct kiss to the healing marks, staring at me with his deep eyes filled to the brim with fire. We stood in silence, leaving the training behind for all of the worlds that needn't be spoken as we found ourselves in each other. I had never known such tranquility. He took me into his embrace, our hearts beating as one, like they would do forevermore, below the evening sky.

**A/N: Aw :) Sorry for all of my spelling mistakes, I'm not really mindful of them when I'm staring at my full notebook, marked with all my extra side notes, putting the words into digital form so y'all can read them. Which is probably why I should solicit a beta.**

**Review it.**

**-Panda**


	19. Unconditional

**A/N: So, thanks for the reviews once again, I honestly love reading all of them. Just in response to all of you who are like exploding for him to accept his feelings, dudes, he's Sesshomaru. We've gotta remember that when putting him in a situation where he's faced with his emotions he's gonna deny them 100 percent. Though even I, the author, want him to jump her bones already -_- BUT now that he has accepted that he feels something more than instinctual attraction for Kagome, we'll see if it ends in sex or something more. :P**

**OH and to ****VisceralMel****, I love you solely for mentioning ****Spartacus****, my most favorite series ever. And yeah, whenever I do Sesshy chapters I picture him talking/thinking overly formal like that because it's just who he is to me.**

**And ****Gwen****, you make me smile with your reviews. I love them hehe :)**

**AND M CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER: NOT THE KIND YOU OR I REALLY WANNA KNOW ABOUT, BUT... Mature readers only, please :) …it's a good lemon, just not a desired one lol. **

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Unconditional **

**(I'm-pretty-sure-you-can-guess POV) **

The very wind shifted around the castle of the East, where we had found every demon had left as though they had seen my arrival before I planned it. Clever beings, dragons were, and when I found them I could destroy them all. "Master," a smirk spread across my lips as I turned toward the woman of the wind, the cause of the sinister breeze outside of the castle windows. "We have taken over the castles of the south and west, as commanded."

A clawed hand brought her closer to me, smirking at the evil incarnation of myself with desire. "Excellent, Kagura." I hummed against her chilled skin purposefully, ripping the silk off of her body as she stood in front of me. Her skin, _my _skin, felt like raw lust as my claws grazed it. She grimaced, making my grin widen as my hands traced her perfectly plump breasts, tearing the flesh open slowly. "And where are the demon lords of the southern and western lands? I should like to absorb such demonic power," I chuckled, letting my teeth mark her as they had so many nights before. This bitch was mine – and she knew it.

She tensed, and I hadn't even slipped my cock into her. "They are here, are they not, Kagura?" I hissed as I entered her wet cunt, tasting her lust when she gasped at just how much I filled her. Her hands gripped the sleeping mat, her legs parted, and she pressed into me with a mewl of pleasure.

She looked over her shoulder at me, fear in her eyes as I pounded in and out of her slick pussy. "They've all vanished, Master, not to be found at their houses – not even Sesshomaru. Their scents lose trail toward the Northern lands." I felt her tense when my hands fisted her hair, and my clock slowed its pace.

Just as I had suspected. They had all received warning of my arrival. "Very good woman. We have driven them from their houses to the barren mountains of the north. Should we find them alive, they will be overly easy to kill," I growled as her wet cunt tightened, the arousal of her lust running down her shaft. "What of the priestess?" I wondered, bringing her back to my chest as I pounded her until she was begging for more. My hands ran across her supple breasts, pinching her dark nipples as I waited response.

"The," she gasped and jabbed her nails into my arm, moaning her answer. "The priestess remains hidden, but Sesshomaru attempted to take my life in search for her – in the north."

_Scheming fools._ They thought they could evade me by masking such an enormous demonic aura from three of the most powerful demon lords on this island, and the purity of a Shikon Miko: such a feat was impossible. I gripped Kagura's reconstructed neck, her cunt screaming for release, and shoved her to her hands and knees.

My claws dug into her hips, drawing sweet blood that my tongue licked away as my cock filled her, slamming into her until she was screaming my name hoarsely. "You are to take Kanna and Kohaku to the northern mountains," I growled in her ear as she mumbled incoherencies, tightening around my cock again, and spilled her essence down her legs and all over my hard cock. With one last thrust into her tight entrance, I bit down on her neck and spilled my hot seed down the folds of her aching cunt. "When you arrive, you will look for the Miko: she will lead you to where the demons are lurking in the shadows. And when, filthy wench," I snarled while flipping her over on her back, watching her full breasts press against my chest as my cock pressed into her once more. "You will return to me – I will kill that Miko and reclaim the other half of the jewel. Who's going to stop me, with Inuyasha once again in Kikyo's arms?"

I smirked against her cold lips, filling her mouth with my dominant tongue before settling for her moan of an answer. She grinned back at me, wrapping her legs around my middle. Her teeth bit down on the flesh of my ear and I slammed against her, my cock returning to former hardness from her words. "Who indeed, my Master?"

* * *

Could I sigh any deeper without losing all of the air in my chest? The heat from the hot springs enveloped my tired body, soothing my screaming muscles. The moon was high in the sky, showing me through the midnight mist a sliver of peace once felt when wrapped up in his arms. But almost immediately after his words of forever graced my ears and his sweet touch soothed my worried brow, my training began – my very painful, bloody, merciless training for close combat with a sword.

I still had burn marks glaring up at me from my palms, product of the very few moments of ambiguity. Basically when I got caught staring at him in the moonlight, and didn't pay attention to the black aura around Tokijin as it sliced my skin open. It wasn't really my fault, though, when he would come behind me to show me exactly where I needed to stand, touching my heated skin with his the sword would burn my fingers and fall to the snow. I could still hear his words as he growled them in my ear. "_A fight with a sword is like a dance between fire and water,"_ he placed his hands on my hips, and I could still feel his claws against my skin as I sat below the warm water. "_You must lead your enemy to his demise before you meet yours, all the while keeping focus, letting sword become extension of your body. To not let distraction take hold,"_ he had growled, shoving the hilt of his sword into my chest most painfully as I stared up at his eyes and lost my footing, leaving myself exposed. _"So that enemy might take advantage."_

I ran my hands across the pink scar Tokijin had left across my skin, recalling his pleased expression as my footing returned and each of my attacks became deliberate. I stared at the pale moon, sinking lower into the water as I thought of his smirk against my skin, tempting me to kiss his lips even when in battle. Fighting like the sword was a part of me rather than metal that continued to burn me was much like fighting with my energy. Totosai really had created a masterpiece in the black katana lying on the ground beside my clothes. He had somehow managed to harness all of my energy within the blade and mixed it with Sesshomaru's demonic aura – the aura that had always seemed to be protecting me, watching me, when he stood at my side.

But that was exactly the problem with it: the part of the blade that belonged to him, the part of the blade that brought me closer to him. I didn't need his protection any longer. I wasn't the weak human girl I had been the day I left the village, and _he_ didn't need to protect me from everything on the island that sought the jewel anymore. I needed no man's protection: I could look after myself.

…And that was precisely why the blade continued to burn me.

"_This sword will only perform,"_ he whispered in my ear as he gripped my hands over the hilt from behind me, showing the wind that I had seen before when I first took the blade in my hands. "_If you accept the demon that seeks to protect you within it and the ability I know you possess. But you must accept who you are, stupid girl_." He had growled in my ear, sending shivers of lust down my stomach. This was the only time during our battle that he had brought me close and showed anything other than disinterest toward me.

As I stared over my shoulder at him, my lids had slid closed when his lips came closer to mine, my heart pounding out of time with his when they had almost touched. "_Ow!"_ I shouted, hissing in discomfort as the sword had burned me again and Sesshomaru, sadly, moved away_. "Why does it keep doing that?"_ I raged, glaring at the blade laying the snow.

"_Because, foolish woman_," he snarled as Tokijin pierced my stomach. I grabbed the blade from the snow hastily, slashing away the object threatening my life. I grabbed the gaping wound over my flesh, and even now that I was safely away from that psychopath, I felt pain there. It had healed, but still I couldn't believe after all that we had been through this day he could still try and kill me like that. I had spit up blood, glaring up at him with my blade raised defensively. "_You do not accept both parts of the sword. Each time I approach you, it burns flesh. You doubt my ability to protect you, and it can sense hesitation within your breast." _He growled, raising his blade deliberately so that I might block the attack before I had healed my wounds.

I shouted at him as the dance began, his feet moving in perfect time with mine as I attacked and he played the defensive, making sure every strike missed him. "_I know you can protect me,"_ I argued hiding my true feelings. I gasped as it burned me, and with a snarl he pressed his sword to my neck.

"_Yet you receive burns for your lies. You think me weak, Miko? You doubt my ability to stand beside you in battle and keep you alive_?" He roared, shoving me into the ground with his elbow to the center of my chest. The purple bruise still burned with soreness. He believed I doubted his strength. No one doubted that side of the demon lord – we all knew he could slay a thousand demons with one blast of his power through the evil demonic sword pressing into my flesh.

"_I don't need your protection!"_ I shouted at him, glaring up at his over confident face until confusion came across it. He did not believe I could care for myself. "_I do not need you, and I doubt your desire to stand beside me in such a battle, so why should I accept a sword that will be rendered useless? You hate humans, well guess what? I'm human! I may be stronger than most humans, but I still need the air, I'll still die someday, unlike you. I don't want to accept the protection of someone who speaks lies to gain power over me_!"

I cringed, even as I sat safely away from Sesshomaru in the hot springs now, when the look of fury crossed his features and he shoved me against the side of the mountain we practiced under. Even now, looking back on the reason for my burned hands, I felt stupid. My first mistake was not accepting his protection. My second mistake was calling him a liar. My third mistake was screaming that into his face as he cut off my air by hoisting my off the ground by my neck. "_If my desire was to gain power over you, Miko, I would have made it much simpler and fucked you until you thought of no other man for as long as your pathetic human life should last, and I would have been freed of you in this moment. My word, once given, is something that cannot be broken. I meant everything I've said to you, stupid woman, and for you to distrust me only displays mistake in such action. You speak of a world where humans and demons can live harmoniously, when you doubt word that comes from a demon's lips, when you doubt a demon's honor over that of a human's,"_ he growled at my stunned expression, his mask slipping back over the fiery eyes I had worked so long to see through the cold. "_Take fucking sword in hand once more."_ He snarled, letting me fall from his grasp.

And after that he didn't go easy on me, but the sword hadn't burned my hands again. I found no doubt in his eyes, and after that moment doubting such words from a man of few seemed ridiculous. Surely, I had seen the emotion in him in the meadow of yosei and ancient magic, and to doubt him was to doubt his honor – a thing demon's valued above everything – except loyalty. And simply because the blade no longer burnt my skin did not mean I didn't receive further injury for my skepticism. His claws scratched my cheeks, his sword dug into my skin, and his eyes were full of so much anger that had been spawned from my hesitation in accepting him, until I was lying bloody on the snowy ground, him standing above me with fury in his red eyes.

But who wouldn't doubt him, at first? From the moment I met the cold demon in the belly of his father's grave, he had wanted only for my death, and now, as feelings came to like, he spoke words of eternity that would never be forgotten and certainly never regretted. I winced as my finger found the final wound, one right above my heart, dealt by his claws.

"_We are finished_," he growled, his cold mask falling to reveal a very foreign sadness. "_Tend to your wounds. I will expect you tomorrow at sundown._"

I sighed at the drastic change in him, until clawed hand shot up to grip my arm. He growled the words, thinking them weak. "_Do not make the mistake of doubting me again, Miko. I know that you see a cold, heartless demon when you look upon me, but know that I see a woman that I would do anything for when I gaze upon you."_

And without another word, he turned away from me and took to the skies, not looking back once after making my heart beat so chaotically I thought it might take off with him to wherever he was headed. Even now, hours after he had departed from that meadow, my heart thudded unevenly. I felt my stomach was made of lead and very breath came with difficulty as I thought of the sorrow across his face, knowing the cause of it was my uncertainty about him: uncertainty that should have never come to lurk in my chest. "Please return to me, Sesshomaru-sama," I whispered to the moon, hoping my words would carry on the wind to find him wherever he was.

I wrapped my kimono around my body, shivering as my feet met the icy ground. The night brought snow to the lands; dark clouds had taken hold over the moon and blocked its light as I came back to the village. Small flakes burned my cheeks like acid as I used my energy to light the way out of the winded forest paths. I could feel the demons taking refuge in their tents in the meadow when the frosted flakes turned to ice and pelted the earth hatefully. I ran up the path, cursing my need to wash the blood off of my body as the hail rained down on me.

I hurried through the village, cursing the winter as I headed toward my home. I could feel his demon caressing me the moment I stepped into the village, and it only hurried my graceful steps. I slipped a few times, cursing the ice until I crossed the bridge over the frozen river, and came face to face with my humble abode, a demon lord sitting in the rain outside, his eyes closed as the droplets of hail turned to ice water, chilling me to the bone. He glared at me, challenging me to speak as I walked passed him, and I bit my tongue as I went into the warm hut.

Shippo and Rin were already asleep, their stomachs full, and the soup almost gone. I grinned at the children lying beside the dying fire and wrapped a blanket around their cold bodies, kissing my kitsune's cheek before I ran my fingers through his hair. I had not seen much of my Shippo today. I shuddered in my wet clothes, only imagining how this chilled weather felt against Sesshomaru as he sat outside my home, stubbornness in his gaze because he couldn't stay away but he would not sit with me as his equal. He was still mad.

I sighed, my eyes narrowing at the bamboo door. This was foolish. I rose to my feet, padded over to the doorway as I dried my hair with a towel, and looked down at the demon lord who seemed to know I was approaching him before my head peeked outside. His eyes turned up toward me expectantly, irritation plain on his features. "You can come in, if you'd like to," I grimaced as the wind raged against us, sending chills down my spine. I clutched the wooden beam to keep myself grounded against the gust. "Rin and Shippo are asleep and I'm headed there myself, so no one will bother you."

I averted my gaze when he had, and found my heart beating sluggishly; guilty, and I found myself hoping that he would take me up on the offer of a warm place to rest for the night. I knew demons didn't get sick, but even the troops in the meadow had taken refuge in their tents during this storm. After a few moments my heartbeat calmed and footsteps that did not belong to my feet could be heard across the wooden floors. I set a kettle on the coals as he came in, glaring down at me as I sat before the crackling fire. He took place across from me, removing his armor to reveal his clothing hadn't gotten too wet in the storm. He sat the metal beside the sleeping children and found place once more on the other side of the fire – his eyes not meeting mine.

Unconsciously, my fingers ran across the dull throb over my heart, and his eyes dropped to the spot blackly. "That is there as aftermath of your own stupidity. Had you accepted my protection, you might've blocked my attack, stupid woman."

I winced at the hostility in his eyes, jumped from the hardness of his deep voice. I had really angered the great demon lord by second-guessing his words, and his serene warmth was far out of reach now. "True, but perhaps you could learn to control your temper and find patience."

"I haven't the need for such trivial things. If you simply trusted in my strength, injury would not have come to you." Scorned, the demon was as he stared at me with flame in his honey eyes. His hands found place inside of his kimono sleeves as he glared at me, his legs crossed.

I smiled at the coals, shaking my head when I thought of his kiss against my lips, felt the love in his stare, even though he would deny it the second I spoke the words. "I trust in you, Sesshomaru-sama. I trust in your strength. I know you would protect me, even if it meant you would meet death for the action," I poured him a cup of the jasmine tea and sat the tea pot back down as I thought of my words, how to phrase them without pissing him off even more. "I left the village in the east all of those months ago to be freed from the need to be protected. I left to get away from Inuyasha's love for another woman when I still felt affections for him in my chest," Sesshomaru growled, staring away from me with red eyes, but I ignored the warning growl as I came to wrap my arms around my legs beside him.

"Affections that have long since passed," I assured as my hand found place over his, and his stare met mine again. "I wanted to be my own person, not Kikyo's reincarnation, not Inuyasha's jewel detector, or the girl that everyone had to protect because she couldn't take care of herself, and the moment I walked away from all of those expectations and stereotypes, I felt my own strength. I trained hard, every day and sometimes throughout the night with the priestess that resided here before me so that I might find my own independence in this life, in this world. And the moment I've found it, a man comes along, a man I care deeply for. I'm scared of that man," I whispered as I looked up to his eyes.

"Because he could very well turn me back into that scared little girl that hadn't any idea of the darkness life bares. He alone has power over me, and though I'm trying not to, I can't help but give him more of it each day. Each time his lips press against mine I feel myself becoming weak for his touch. Each time he smiles at me, rare as those occasions are, I find myself putting my trust in him, as I did Inuyasha. Understand, Sesshomaru-sama, I trust you, I care about you, and I don't ever want you to stray from my side, but I cannot rely on your protection for the rest of my life."

He growled again, gripping my skin with his claws. "How could you not?"

I smiled at the fire again, sighing to myself. "Sesshomaru-sama, I refuse to be that broken little girl again. I refuse to feel the pain I know shall come to me," I paused and stared into his enraged eyes, my fingers tracing the magenta markings of his cheeks. "When you find your mate and leave me behind you, rendering that blade useless." Just as Inuyasha did when Kikyo came back to life, and left me without the protection that, back then, I relied on. I was attacked by a demon, nearly ending my life because I was unable to defend myself, and the only reason I stood tall today was because of the lord sitting beside me, glaring down at me like I was a plague cast against him.

He took my cheek in his hand, bringing my face to his slowly. His moon rested against my forehead and my eyes closed because of the peace that now surrounded his aura. "Miko, the woman I see before me could never be rendered the girl you had been beside my brother. I shall never leave your side for something as trivial as love," he smirked against me as his lips pressed against mine, stunning me. I pressed against him before he broke the connection between us and stared down at me, his fingers grazing my skin softly. "You know me to be incapable of such an emotion."

I nodded, leaning forward, and pressed my face into his neck. I smiled as I spoke, my words holding no meaning for whatever lie between us. "How could I forget? You are only capable of malevolence and calamity, Sesshomaru-sama."

His hand captured mine, his head fell against mine, making me feel warmer than I ever had, and his voice was soft. "You needn't call me that any longer, Kagome." My heartbeat picked up at the sound of my name coming from his lips, a thing it had only done a handful of times since our meeting.

"W-what would you like me to call you?" I whispered, unable to find my voice in the light of the fire burning before us.

He nuzzled me, placing a kiss to my temple that sent shivers of longing down my front, spreading across my sex shamelessly as his lips went lower, pressing to my neck before the heated trail of mischief ended. "You may call me by my name, without title." I felt his affection wrap around me as the aura from his demon had, and I melted against him as arms pulled me between his legs, closer to the beating of his heart.

"I should like that," I whispered, resting my head on his chest as exhaustion from the strenuous activities that had drained my energy so, crept up on me. As his lips pressed against my forehead, my eyes drooped and I found myself in dreams that for the first time in my life paled to reality.

But all too soon, my dreams dimmed to the pale morning sunshine, and I was awakened not by the demon lord that had fallen asleep against me for the sheer pleasure of sharing something intimate, but by a furious man staring down at us from above. "What the hell is going on here? What are you doing with my woman, you filthy mutt?" He raged, waking both Sesshomaru and I, but my reaction fell very short of the blade that now threatened to sever Koga's head from his body where he stood at the doorway of my hut. I simply landed on my butt behind him, watching as his demon glared at the intruder like a bug that needed to be squashed.

"She. Is. _Mine_. Wolf." My eyes widened at his covetous words, my mouth falling open in shock as his hand came to push me behind him. _His…?_ What the hell? Where did this come from? "Come any closer to her and find head severed from flesh before we face Naraku and you gain revenge for your fallen kin."

"Who the hell do you think you are, calling her your own? She's been betrothed to me since the moment I took her from that hanyou mutt brother of yours!" Koga shouted, kicking Tokijin from Sesshomaru's grasp as he did so. The demon lord pushed me against the wall, protecting me from Koga's rage, until I felt a bouncy, childlike aura melt into my barrier.

"I'd watch what you say, Koga," I giggled, tapping Sesshomaru's shoulder so he would let me go. He did so, but not without guarded expression and a growl under his breath. I sighed when his eyes finally calmed and his demon took to hiding within him. "I'm pretty sure your fiancée will aide Sesshomaru in kicking your ass for your coming on to me like you have since you've arrived. Speaking of Ayame," I smiled as the green eyed girl popped her head into the hut, a smile on her lips as she saw Koga standing alone – defenseless.

"This is his intended mate, Ayame," I spoke to Sesshomaru as he stared, his stance still in front of me protectively. "She'll keep him in line." I glared coldly at the demon that had interrupted my sleep and he blushed as his woman came to kiss him all over and take his hand sweetly in hers.

"Thanks for finding him, Kagome. We've brought some of our kind from each of the territories that seek revenge on Naraku as well. How rude can you be, Koga, interrupting their sleep!" She stomped on his foot, getting a yelp of pain from the man as the demon lord and I watched amusedly. "We'll be expecting to hear your plans in the field where the other warriors have gathered once you're ready, Sesshomaru-sama." She bowed her head in respect, taking the wolf by his ear out of my hut, ignoring his cries of pain.

They had brought the best warriors from the wolf demon clan, and the dozen of them walked through the village, friendly smiles on their faces as they greeted the humans and demons that resided here. I turned back to Sesshomaru and yawned, resting my head against his back until he turned and took me into his arms. "Can we go back to sleep now?" I glared at the sun, as it had barely risen over the hills, spreading its cheery warmth across the lands, and wrapped my arms around his middle tightly. _I could definitely get used to this…_

He pressed a kiss to my lips, rubbing my nose against his sweetly. "You may, but I must go to the field and speak with the wolves." Unconsciously, a pout had found its way to my lips before he took them in his, biting me playfully until I was smiling against him with my arms around his neck, silently begging for more. I tasted his honey with my lips, my tongue begging for entrance passed them, and when he finally obliged I sighed into his mouth, getting a growl from his chest. We parted and his tongue licked across my lips seductively before he gathered his armor from the floor, smirking at me.

When he turned his back to me, his eyes giving me silent goodbye, I captured his hand. "I must go to the village for supplies later. I shouldn't take too long, but should you wonder where I've gone to…" I trailed off as his hands fell on my hips and he pulled me to him, worry in his golden eyes.

"Take the sword," he commanded and his cold gaze found place as he stared at me to mask the worry. "And be mindful of wandering eyes. The wolves smelled thickly of miasma, even those from the most northern tribes. Naraku's incarnations might be lurking anywhere passed this barrier. I am entrusting you with your own life, woman, and should you endanger it, you alone will suffer consequence." He warned, pressing his lips to mine once more before waiting for my agreement. Why did the world spin in such sweet fire when we connected, his mouth against mine? I found my balance again, smiling up at him with a nod, and watched as he walked down the path – away from me.

It wasn't until he was beyond the bend in the trail that giggling erupted behind me and my eyes widened to see Shippo and Rin had, of course, awakened when they heard Koga making a scene. Shippo giggled at my tight eyes, leaning on Rin as she tried to hold in her laughter, turning bright red in the attempt.

Oh lovely. An audience. They chuckled like hyenas in the corner, mumbling about how strange it was seeing the demon kiss me until I was spinning. "Hmm…who is going to cook breakfast while I'm in town?" I wondered, reaching for a winter haori that hadn't been in my bedroom before yesterday when I opened the doors. I frowned at the fabric as the children went silent, contemplating laughing at my romantic moment or getting breakfast, and pressed my nose to the warm clothes. Honey and Jasmine spilled from the fabric, intoxicating me.

"Damn you, Sesshomaru…" I sighed, running my fingers across the warm goose-feather lined kimono. How was I supposed to tell him to stop giving me things to keep me from the cold without sounding like I didn't care? I sighed and slipped it over my shoulders, relishing in the warmth it already brought over the thing summer haori. _Damn that demon and his affections…_I blushed as Shippo stared at me oddly in the fresh kimono.

"Mama, you're not gonna make breakfast?" Shippo wondered, tugging on my pants as I came to sit beside the firepot. I captured him in my arms and pressed kisses all over his face.

"Of course I will, my little love! I was only kidding," I promised, welcoming Rin into my embrace as she grinned over at me. I shooed them off of me, telling them to get some sleep as I prepared a breakfast that they could heat over the fire when they woke later on, but my mind hadn't left the moment of my own awakening.

"She is mine." I shuddered at his possessive words as the haunted my thoughts, leaving me wondering. Did he mean them, in his true state of reddened eyes and fury? I bit my lip, blushing as I found myself hoping he had.

I set the oatmeal away from the fire, letting the cinnamon and apple flavored breakfast cool before I grabbed the sword and tied it to my sash. The village at the base of the mountain had supplies for armies, large amounts of food should you be able to pay enough for it, and even some herbs I hadn't been able to save before the very early frost had taken the lands. I shook the last few coins from my purse and slid them into my pocket safely. It would be enough to give the armies a feast before we went off to battle, and it would certainly be enough for me to get the herbs the pregnant village women would need to drink with their tea every morning to keep their children strong from the cold.

On my way down the trail toward the village, I caught a glimpse of the strategizing men. All of the men from the armies stood in front of him as he spoke, pointing to several spots on a map. I'll definitely have to see what these so called plans are before we charge into battle." I whispered, straining to hear what was being said, but gave up and walked through the meadow silently. His speech was not slowed by my presence, but the demons around him obviously took notice to me and their eyes wandered to me as I entered Mayumi' tent. She lie in the sheets, staring at the ceiling until she heard me approach her.

"Here," I handed her a kettle with steeped water and herb inside. "Drink this. It should fight off the cold ad keep the child strong through the winter," I assured her, handing over the spare herbs as she stared at me with guilty eyes, but accepted it.

"Thank you, Miko-sama," she smiled breathtakingly at me and I found a twinge of jealousy in my chest. "For everything you have done."

"It's Kagome, actually," I smiled, turning my back on her. "And it was nothing." If she hadn't betrayed him…as messed up as it was…I would have never felt his warmth, never seen the man inside of the demon.

I smiled over at him as I made my way through the snow to the pathway, making his eyes flash with intuition before I headed down the icy road toward the village, lifting the hood of the cloak draped around my shoulders to hide my face from any malicious demons. I didn't feel like killing today. I felt like skipping through the snow, falling into it and sighing as I thought of his arms around me, thought of his kiss and the warmth it brought me.

But it wasn't long before I had wandered into the village, and the town had just awoken to the day. "Kagome-sama," The woman from the herb shop called to me as I treaed through the snow, wishing I had brought some boots with me from the modern era, and came to her small hut. "It is good to see you, child." She smiled, reminding me so much of Kaede…who was much safer without me in her life. I fought emotion from my face and smiled, removing the hood.

"Good morning, Chou-sama," I bowed my head respectfully for the old sage of this village. "I only need some leaves from the red raspberry and primrose oil," I smiled when her eyes narrowed and she picked the herbs from her stock, smirking like a fox.

"Expecting are you?" she wondered as she gathered the primrose oil into a vile and cut the raspberry leaves expertly. I flushed red, shaking my head quickly.

"Not even close, Chou-sama. The women in my village should need the herbs to strengthen their defense over the cold," I explained, recalling the medicines from my time and even the ancient remedies my mother made when she was pregnant with my little brother.

She narrowed her eyes, gazing at my robes and then to my face. "Well there is a man in your life provoking such a smile and reddened cheeks, am I right?" She nudged me, getting me to finally roll my eyes at her and hand her the coin I owed for supplies.

"You are mistaken, Chou-sama…" I lied, but I knew she saw through my deceit, for she chuckled under her breath and sipped at her morning tea. I turned my back on her, saying my goodbyes as I sought out the man who always went on hunts in the fall to bring meats to the higher villages later in the year. His shop had not yet opened. _Oh well, I guess I can come back tomorrow…_

My eyes widened as something twitched against my skin, something prickling the hairs along my body until they stood upright, danger in their sights. Gut reaction kicked in and I formed a barrier around my entire self, turning just in time to come face to face with a woman I thought to be dead. She could not see me, but I could see her fiery eyes wander through the village, and the child next to her holding a mirror that sought to destroy anything it came in contact with stared beyond my form curiously before turning away. "Kanna, did you not say you spotted a miko from the sky?" Kagura's voice dripped with irritation and I gulped, holding my breath as she walked in front of me, waving her fan in her fingers with a bored sigh.

"I saw a woman with a black clock, red hakama, and a white haori, sister Kagura. Kohaku stands witness," she gazed emotionlessly at the boy beside her, and my eyes widened, horror crossing them as I saw the possessed kin of my dear sister Sango. It was her brother, and he was still under the control of Naraku, being used as a minion to come find me and lead them to where the demons were hiding. The boy nodded at Kanna's words and Kagura, growing bored of looking in one place for so long, shook her head.

"Well, she's not here now. We've been all over these mountains, and nothing. Naraku will not be happy if he has to kill Kagome during this battle with the demon lords. She could prove to be too much of a threat," she growled, summoning her wind to carry them away on a giant feather in the sky as I stared in horror

As soon as they had dropped from sight, with adrenaline still running through my veins, I sprinted with my barrier raised toward the village of Hakura, only wanting to see Sesshomaru after her words of my death. I ran up the slippery slopes, slide across the icy creeks and frozen flower meadows, barged through the barrier, my eyes only on him as he stood beside Kaji and Raijukin before a map. "Sesshomaru!" I shouted, panting from the run that had been entirely uphill as I came to his side, my hands gripping his kimono tightly.

His eyes widened and he steadied me with his hands, his golden orbs wild as he stared at my fear. "What happened, Miko? Are you harmed?" He looked me over, sniffing for blood and I shook my head.

I gasped for air, desperate for my head to clear before I stared up at those eyes, determination in my words when I found them unmasked. "Kagura, she, was looking for me; Naraku is seeking us because he's found the castles in all of the lands empty. I put up a barrier before she'd seen me, but he knows we're in the north." His eyes hardened and he nodded toward the men, who gave him acceptance in gaze only. "It's not just that," I mumbled when the other lords had moved to explain to the warriors what would be happening sooner than had been planned, discreetly giving us a moment alone. A moment I would thank them for later.

He removed me from gaze of the army, and stood in front of me with his smoldering depths glaring into my soul. "What then? Speak," he commanded, his hands gripping my shoulders as he stared down at me madly, unease on his lips.

I touched his markings, finding peace in the feeling of his skin that calmed me before I spoke. "He moves to end my life before the battle," I whispered, finding the very words hard as they came from my lips, to grace his ears and redden his eyes.

His claw came under my chin, connecting our gazes: mine apprehensive, his furious. "I will not let him touch what is mine," he snarled, claws digging into my arms as he brought me closer and his skin paled until my lips came to rest upon his, silently begging for the man to take over the demon and give me solace, not wrath. His skin darkened in time with his eyes and he stared down at me, the worry replaced with conviction as he spoke to me. "I will not let anyone harm you ever again, Miko."

My sword pulsed with purpose as I stared into his eyes, welcoming his words as they entered my heart, becoming a part of the rhythmic music between us. "I believe you," I whispered, nodding as my hand came to rest at the hilt of the pulsing black blade, my energy swirling through it excitedly as our auras danced in the wind, the battle on the horizon, but the only emotion to be felt between us was one neither of us would ever speak and didn't need to. He took my hand in his, promise in his eyes, and we stared at the troops preparing seriously for a battle that could mark the end of all of us when it ever came.

**A/N: **

**Damn she's so bleak. Lol I'm really happy to have this done today! I loved writing it from the time I woke up until now. Don't worry, the battle is still a few chapters off, and a lot will happen before it takes place. *winkwink***

**Review it.**

**-Panda**


	20. Tsukiuta

**A/N: This chapter is gonna be a bit darker than the previous ones. But I like it, in my own evil sort of way. Title for the chapter means Moon Song, and it's pretty significant, so don't forget I told you. **

**And Guest reviewer! Kagura did die in chapter 13, but only her body can die if Naraku still has her heart. And he does, so she's alive…for the moment. Muhaha.**

**Vocaloid Marmalade86, don't worry, the sword's name will be brought up in this chapter! Like Totosai would forge a sword without naming it, psh. :)**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Tsukiuta**

Wincing at the sickening sound of skin being slashed open, my face hit the already blood-stained ice and I shut my bruised eyes, wishing he would just kill me and get it over with. Blood spilled from my lips when his hand fisted my hair, his growls at my ear. "Again."

He dropped my head, letting my shaking body sink into the icy snow. I shuddered at the cold kiss of frost against my cuts and bruises. We had been at this for hours now. From the moment he promised nothing would hurt me ever again, and the sun was now low in the western sky, taking the day with its golden rays. With shaky hands, I rose, staring out of my half-opened eyes up at the demon lord assaulting me in what he called training. I would call it his excuse to beat the human out of me, but deep inside I knew why he bloodied me so. His eyes were red, his skin ghostly pale, and beyond the turquoise of his demon's pupils I saw worry, worry deep enough to provoke his beast. He bested me each time because he knew my body could take it. He beat me like this because I needed it to grow stronger, to know what to expect from an enemy.

Naraku's words had shaken him, visibly, and now we stood preparing for a battle he thought imminent. I needed to learn how to use this stupid sword, even Inuyasha agreed with that, and he hated seeing me in any situation that would call for my blood to spill. It was not hard to say that everyone was on edge from the sighting of Kagura, Kanna…and Kohaku's haunted eyes. Sango burst into tears at the mention of her brother adrift in the evil of Naraku's miasma, and I could still feel where she had slapped me from my cold words toward her brother. I thought of the way she handled her swords slaying demons, remembering the words coming from her mouth as she tried to train me long ago.

"I haven't the hand for this," I mumbled, quoting her as my knees buckled, but I didn't let myself fall, I couldn't. I stared at his riled depths. "I think I'm going to pass out." My voice was all but a gurgle, yet he still came at me with a snarl, steel clashing against steel in the wide, hidden meadow of winter until I fell to my knees and his blade touched my neck, claiming victory against my tender skin.

I pushed against him with my strength, as weak as it was, and found myself lying on my back in the snow, his blade at my throat once more. I couldn't even last a moment against his strength, and he hadn't even broken a sweat. My sword fell from my hands and I found arms had wrapped around my middle, taking me out of the bitter snow before my exhausted eyes could shut. I rested, for the moment, against his chest while he mumbled against me, his lips pressing against my tired, swollen eyelids until the pain left them mercifully. "How should you expect to face a high ranking youkai if you cannot even remove my sword from my grasp? Take your sword once more, Miko, and use it as you would your energy from extended hand."

He helped me to my feet, his hand not leaving my middle as I steadied myself and took the black instrument in my fingers again, determination on my brow. I had done this before, I could do it again. I sighed, letting the energy from inside of me swirl around it chaotically. I let the wind from my soul carry across the purple haze around the blade, and found my stamina returned, and his warm hand no longer on my waist. I opened my eyes to see him standing ten paces from me, his sword raised to purpose, and his eyes turned deep red before he began to change. His body bent and twisted, lengthening and growing stronger. His eyes turned from warm honey to electric blue and blood red depths of hatred and savagery.

And I found that I was not staring at the calm demon lord any longer.

Before me was his true form: the demon that stood taller than his already staggering height, the demon with arms chiseled and marked jaw strong, the demon that's skin had been tinted to a shade above the snow, and primal instinct lurked passed his dark eyes. He chuckled when my heart raced, his fangs peeking out past his hoary lips. "Do you fear me now, priestess?" It laughed, swinging sword through the air until it clashed with mine and I was able to see my wide, horrified eyes in the reflection of its evil.

He seethed his rage in my face, pressing Tokijin against my sword until silver light oozed from it, begging for me to use an attack against his wind. "Strike!" He commanded with a voice that was low and dark, a thing I had never heard it to be before. Always when he spoke to me his tone sounded like the sweetest music, the calmest day of spring. The demon growled murderously at me when my footing waned and he gained an inch, forcing both of the blades against my chest.

The wind pressed against me, showing me the power lurking deep inside of myself as I panicked, and I panted as it raced through me, soaking the sword with my energy that it pulled from my center. "I'll hurt you, Sesshomaru-sama!" I shouted, tears in my eyes as the snow around us became furious; the wind from both of our auras causing a storm of white around the battle that uprooted the old trees of the forest and slammed them against the face of the mountain.

Poison dripped from his lips, a grin on them as it burned my feet. "If you do not you will lose your life, you pathetic woman! Strike me down or_ I _shall be the one to cause harm to _you_ without remorse." He snarled again, his energy turning the most sinister black it had ever been, and something struck deep in my chest. It was like a piece of the sword called out to me from beyond the darkness that lurked inside of him, bringing my own out to join the destruction around us. I glared at the youkai with changed eyes, my voice not my own as the sword began to gain control over my thoughts, protecting my life as he promised to do.

Acting on instinct, my greying light wrapped around me in an impenetrable shield, pushing him back as my strength returned, coupled with the untainted youki from his fang in the blade. And it was I striking now, bringing him closer to oblivion as the demon of the sword wrapped itself around me as well, giving me _his_ dexterity, gave me _his_ strength, protecting me with the white and purple light that slashed his pale skin open, tore his silk kimono with rage, and drew blood from his perfect body. The demon backed away defensively, smirking at me as I mastered the balance inside of myself, and finally we connected in the center of the field: purified steel clashing with demonic metal, a song of an eternal battle of good and evil screaming through the air around us. The youki and spiritual energy of the blade allied inside of me like fire kissing the water without dissolving, making me gasp wildly from the bittersweet pain of it, and the hazy light from inside came out of my fingertips, slithering up the blade.

"Please, stop…" I whispered, fighting the sword as my hands rose to purpose when the demon snarled and came to find advantage in my stilled movements. My eyes, flashing with uncertainty, glared over at him as the poison of my soul trickled past the tip, anxiety shuddering through the steel as Tokijin rose. "NO!" I screamed but the wind shifted, bringing the calamity of our heightened auras to a very brief, delicate end. It was deadly silent, so calm like the breeze against my skin, and when his eyes turned on me, the smirk of death on his lips, a serene white burst of purity gripped him in its clutches, tearing him to pieces until I could no longer see through the electrified static that ripped the man I cherished into somnolence, his snarls of anger echoing off of the trees.

The light faded away so slow it was painful to watch, and my eyes followed a trail of deep red blood to his battered body – on the other side of the field where he lie unmoving. Eyes turned on the monstrous blade that changed me so before shaking fingers dropped it to the ground to be forgotten for the rest of time, and I approached him with numb legs. "S-Sesshomaru?" I rasped with a voice so quiet I barely heard it myself. Tensaiga stood tall before his body, glowing a faint blue before I could no longer feel his aura against mine. I couldn't feel his warmth. I could not hear the music of his heartbeat melodiously complementing the uneven throb inside of my chest.

_What have I done…?_

My legs carried me swiftly to his side, skidding to a halt as I fell to the snow, my hands pressing against his motionless chest riddled with bleeding cuts and gashes. "Please, _please_ open your eyes!" I begged, going to my knees as a blue light of healing came from my palms that had pressed above his bare chest, pleading for his heartbeat to restart in this broken meadow that was now as silent as a graveyard.

I let my tears fall against him, the light intensifying as my hands became shaky and uncontrolled, until clawed fingers gripped my waist and I found myself on my back, a heavy body pressing against me as I stared up into honey gold. "Y-you feign injury to gain advantage? How could you make me worry like that, asshole? I thought I killed you!" I shouted, smacking his chest furiously as I glared up at him, relief on my expression, but ire punched through my chest to grip my heart. I thought he was dead…and my heart wanted to flee from my chest to die beside him at the very thought. I blushed, shaking away the lingering sensation of an emotion I didn't want to have for anyone as it crossed my skin, bringing forlorn warmth.

_Stupid, unfeeling demon! I should've just let him lie here and die! _

…_But I'm so glad that he's alright._

I let my fingers press against his exposed chest, feeling the rhythm return, and with it the peace my life now held. Had my attack done any damage, other than healing cuts across his cheeks and chest?

"I feign injury to come closer to the exquisite woman before me," he smirked as his teeth nipped at the skin of my neck, making me blush more than I already was in my livid state. "But do you really believe that you are powerful enough to best me, foolish woman?" He spoke wryly as if the thought amused him.

I scowled up at his earnest eyes, pressing my lips together tightly as his found place above my heart, sending a pink flush around the spot his cold skin found. "Don't be foolish. You may be stronger than every other human on the island, but you will never have the power to defeat me. However, such a display does require compliment. You have found the ability to harness my youki within the sword. Using it against the true form of a demon will unleash its full power, as you so displayed by thinning out the forest in attempt to take my life. It has finally accepted you as well, Miko." He ran clawed hand down my cheek, apologizing for worrying me with the passionate fire in his eyes. I huffed at his words, oddly sweet as they were, and found my eyes untrusting as they glared up at him.

_Asshole_.

"I will never attack you again, Sesshomaru. That blade yearned for your death and in turn so did I. Never ask me to use such an attack on you again for I will find myself unable, and you'll kill me."

He shook his head, helping me to my feet and successfully ending the eternal lust that had pooled inside of me as he lay atop me, pressing every inch of himself into my more than keen body. I moaned from his touch when he pulled me to him, mumbling his words in my ear. "You have realized the power inside of yourself so I have no need to. Now," he nodded toward the sword laying the snow where I had dropped it in disgust, and hard eyes turned back on me. "Come sundown tomorrow I shall teach you how to wield it without injury, but you must be informed on plans of battle before. Naraku will fall by your hand or mine, no other."

I nodded, sheathing the sword that sang for me a song so sweet that, by Sesshomaru's reaction, could only be heard by my ears, but I welcomed the melody of gratitude for finally allowing _his_ affection into my heart.

His hand fell to my waist as we walked down the path back to the village, and I let my barrier only cover our bodies once more when he pulled me closer to his side. My eyes rolled back in my head a little when his claws found exposed skin over my hip, and grazed it innocently. "Tend to injury and I shall meet you at your home when the moon rests on the shoulder of the mountain. I must set Jaken to purpose, there are things I should require from my castle." I gazed at the low moon in the east and nodded, but not without question.

"What things?"

He stared at me like I was stupid for expecting an answer and I laughed at myself as we crossed the barrier into the outskirts of the village. The children had gone into their homes, warmed by the scent of firewood and hot soup, and I found myself missing the winter's back home with my own family. I turned to the demon that could note the change in me, and smiled. "Never mind, I'm going to change back into those clothes you so very discreetly put in my hut this morning," I tried to glare, but it must've looked so fake with the smile across my lips. I enjoyed his displays of affection toward me, however they came.

He made no action, moved no muscle in his face, and stared at me objectively…_dishonestly_. He should have known that I could see through those eyes should they turn on me. "You humans, so _fragile_..." As if to prove a point, and make my blush even more noticeable, he wrapped his hands around my waist and bent down to nip at my shoulder, growling his words in my ear when my heartbeat took off in my chest. "You are an inconvenience to me, should you fall ill."

"Mhm," I mumbled, wrapping my arms around his neck as he pressed against me, pulling me to him with his strong arms. Not even the great demon that grasped me closer seemed to believe the words out of his mouth for the truth they should have been. Our eyes met, and I was as lost as the northern wind against the unbending mountains around us.

His lips grazed mine, sending welcomed whispers of lust to my lions as my hands found place on his chest. His tongue snaked passed my lips and weaved in motion with mine. A groan of desire from within his chest sounded when I sighed against him and hands trailed down my back, going passed my hips until they rested just above my backside firmly. When I turned to him with raised eyebrow, he pushed into me ravenously, spreading my legs with one of his. Wanting so much more, I wrapped them around his waist, finding place in his arms as he pushed me against a tree in the forest so close to the village that should anyone come around the bend we would be spotted. I felt like my entire body was on fire when his lips pressed to mine, his body pushed against mine with a desire he would never speak. When he broke from me, I couldn't find coherent thought until heated kisses and merciless bites found their way down my neck, bringing me closer and closer to the fire that was his gentle touch to my skin.

My hands roamed his chest shamelessly, grazing the tight muscles they found but when they inched lower down his abdomen, they were caught within claws and apprehensive eyes met mine. I watched as the need in them retreated, if only marginally, and he regained his flawless control. Our breathing calmed, our foreheads pressed together as the life rhythm between us returned to its natural melody but his hands still rested on the curve of my ass, bringing my hips close when he sat me down in the snow. I felt like tackling him for making me stop, but instead pressed my chest against him, audaciously kissing his neck until he groaned lowly in my ear and pressed lips to mine softly to stop my lusted assault.

When we parted he bit down on my neck one last time, smirking when I moaned at the feeling of passion stirring in my stomach. "I must go," he spoke the words like vinegar on his tongue and from the way he held me closer at words of parting he didn't want this to end either. My heartbeat louder as his eyes met mine again and they smiled only for me, shining brighter than the waning moon above us.

I blushed and nodded against him, letting my lips rest upon his once more, bringing back the sweet shudder of forbidden desire. He pulled me into his arms, resting his head on mine. "Infuriating," he mumbled, making me smile. I felt _so_ safe in the circle of these arms. I felt like the world didn't matter as his eyes smiled for me in the darkness of night. Nothing would ever tear me from his side. I knew that now, as we held each other, the music inside of us becoming slow and even like the ending of the sunset.

I pressed my hands to the armor of his stomach as I spoke words that would undoubtedly calm the air around us. "Be nice to Jaken."

His eyes narrowed and he removed me from the circle of his arms, almost making me pout from the loss of contact until I saw those golden depths smiling at me wistfully. "Why would I do such a thing?"

* * *

Her scent swirled around me, even after we were parted and she greeted her kin. I growled as the rhythm of her heartbeat brought me closer, when my purpose was with Jaken, not her deep blue eyes of serene warmth. She stood in the last remaining rays of the sun, her pale skin shining in at as she smiled and held her Kitsune close, holding Rin's hand when she tugged on the leg of her hakama.

Such an irritating woman, knowingly tempting me with her wiles.

_Beautiful woman, with hair like silk and skin like the winter snow…_

Weak woman, she cannot even wield a sword without sobbing for death.

_Perfect woman, she cares about this demon above all living things, even herself. _

I recalled the way she screamed for the sword to stop before it ended my life, and it almost had. Had it not been for Tensaiga, she would have. Such unbelievable power…I had never encountered it in a being of spiritual energy, and it only attracted me into taking those lips in mine, called out to my demon to take her as the other part of my soul when she revived my stunned heart with her affection and tears. How had she bested me? I glared at her, finding nothing weak in her tall stature and bloodstained clothes. Naraku threatened her life and therefore he threatened what was mine and I would not let him touch her. He would not place his hanyou hands on her skin.

"Jaken," I barked my command, gaining his attention and glared down at him as he bowed in respect of my black aura. "You are to ride Ah-Uh to the castle of the west and bring me this," I handed him a scroll of things that would fit on Ah and Un's shoulders comfortably. He handed me a robe from the dragon's saddle and I gave him my gratitude before thoughts of the hot spring she bathed in crossed mind. I was covered in blood that was and was not my own, stained in mud from the melting ice, and injury still remained across my right shoulder from the white electricity of her attack.

I spoke evenly as Jaken ran to saddle the two headed dragon. "And you are to check the houses of the east and south. I should like to know if Naraku is hiding his cowardly form in one of them." I commanded, sparking unintentional fear in his wide eyes.

"B-but Sesshomaru-sama! Should he see me I am sure to be dead!" He wailed to the skies. He did not trust in me, even after half of a millennia spent keeping him alive because he had become of use to me.

I dropped a jade stone in his hands, a stone that the Miko had blessed with the energy of her shield so that Kaji and his men might patrol the lands without being seen by humans or youkai: an ingenious idea for a human woman to have. I commended her silently for it now, as the youkai bowed and thanked me for my _kindness_. "Keep that on person once you have left this place, and you will not be seen. Now go." I commanded, turning my back on him as he bowed and thanked my generosity. I knew not of kindness or generosity, only of the lingering warmth in her smile as it came to memory and the feeling of death as it crossed my claws.

"So," The wide eyed sage spoke, frightening the Miko into stumbling backwards with a squeak from her full lips. I had hold of my blade, the demon reacting to her momentary fear, but when her eyes met mine shyly my claws dropped and I calmed, listening to his words of praise. "Your souls have at last come together within the steel, Kagome. The song of the moon that the blade sings when close to Sesshomaru," he wailed, causing a scene that had the villagers staring curiously and a pleasant blush across her cheeks. "It's so beautiful! My greatest creation yet, spawned of the most terrible youki aura and the most benevolent of all holy energies!"

"Song of the moon?" We spoke simultaneously and she glanced down at the katana as it was unsheathed, listening to the melodious tune it played when her flesh met the silk handle. It sounded like the serenity of summer sunshine on her skin, the glowing words of the harvest moon as it praised her, and reminded me of her smile that was meant only for my eyes. I could hear her soul singing from the blade as it spoke to both of us, calling my aura to wrap around her narrow shoulders. The sword caressed her, licking her skin with the flame that came from the hidden emotion in my eyes. The song called my demon to purpose, and my eyes flashed red, and for the first time in my existence, they craved to see her in my true form.

"Do you not hear it?" He sighed, shutting his eyes as the song became as steady as the beating drum of our hearts in the setting sun. "It is the song that lurks in your soul, Kagome. The harmony it feels when the youki and the energy come together perfectly, creating a weapon so powerful it could end the lives of a thousand creatures or bring peace to any torment – its name is its song: Tsukiuta." The sword pulsed at mention of its true name, and she smiled, caressing the blade with thin fingers as it sang a song that wasn't like any music there was.

Totosai turned abruptly, leaving us lost in thought as he shouted at the hanyou. "Why don't you treat your father's Tetsusaiga with such kindness, you unworthy dog?" He shouted, narrowing his eyes at Inuyasha, who stood beside his wench on the bridge that connected the Shrine to the small village, yet my eyes had not left her wondrous expression…my ears had not ceased to her the slow music of her soul as it came to a close, promising forever and eternity as my aura held her close, protecting her from the darkness. I touched my uneven heart, denying the emotion the demon had left behind inside of me as he took her aura in the melodious rhythm of our souls together.

When Ah and Un took to the skies, I glared down at the bothersome pulse that came from my right shoulder. _What is this injury?_ My claws dipped past the ripped kimono and grazed a wound that had not yet healed, despite my youki's darkness surrounding it. It appeared to be growing larger, as I remembered her attack had not done any substantial damage to my vessel except taking consciousness.

No this wound…it cut deeper than the humanoid form my youki took, the form _her _eyes fell on these many days and adored from afar...the form she desired. Without word I walked toward the dark woods, the hot springs dripping with her energy crossed mind once more as injury widened. I moved down the path I had taken many nights when she would go to bathe. I never dishonored her, always hiding my presence in the tree tops with my eyes on the sky, but my fierce aura kept her safe from the army of demon men with thoughts of her full breast on their minds, hoping to steal a glimpse of her flawless curves while she was vulnerable. Such a sight would only ever come to my eyes and it would be of her own will, not the desire of a foul demon looking for quick release.

The warm water that felt much like her touch wrapped around my being, and I lost myself in her scent that was everywhere around me. The wind that rippled the water carried her laughter, the scent of the summer brought her blush to memory, and I found myself desiring her touch once more. I found place upon a submerged stone and I dipped my shoulder into the pool, hoping that her essence swirling around me would close the blackness, but only a twinge of superfluous pain tore from the gash. "Damn that woman," I growled, cursing the power I hadn't known she possessed as I glared at the hole in my flesh. Was I to lose _this_ arm now?

"Sesshomaru?" My eyes shot up to meet her blue depths and found she was standing at the edge of the pool, her hair a curtain around her shoulders and breasts. She was wearing a simple cloth over her body and she gazed down at me with a blush across her cheeks. I narrowed my eyes, feeling myself come to passion just staring at her in the wet, thin fabric that exposed her creamy skin to my eyes. "You're injured!" She gasped when she saw blood pouring from the cut, letting the cloth fall when she met the water, revealing herself completely to me and what I saw before eyes turned away respectfully had my cock hardened, begging for her touch that I desired so.

When she came into the water she examined the wound, but my eyes had not left her full breasts that finally fell below the murky waves so that my eyes might meet hers. I showed my distaste for this moment in the hostility of my voice, keeping her at arm's length when my demon begged for release inside of her. "It will not heal. It appears your energy moves to kill its target even after battle has ended. My youki will not repair it." I growled, glaring at the troublesome woman threatening my sanity as she swam up to me, resting her hand atop my damaged flesh with worry in her eyes.

She bit her lip, wrapping her small hand around the limb, and sat on a submerged rock beside me, our legs touching below the water. "Let me," she whispered, and I fought the lustful growls in my throat when her breasts pressed against my arm, sending desire to the already aching member between my legs. I ran my claws over her ribs below the water, getting a blush for my actions that forced arm to catch her and bring her close, earning a low gasp of pleasure from her lips. She pressed herself against my chest when the demon brought her to me, eyes red in reflection of her deep blue pools. She grinned and pressed her lips to my neck, sending her fire through me. I fought for control as her hands trailed down my chest with greater intention in the path they took, and finally glared at her purposefully.

She smiled at my sinister glare that would have meant death to any other creature and turned in the circle of my arm, looking at the wound thoughtfully with a frown upon her brow. She pressed her blue glowing fingers to flesh and the poison from the blade she wielded began to fade slowly, tendons of skin coming together as blood poured from the black hole and onto her pale skin, and finally down the slow stream. I watched her face as a smile crossed it, and all that remained of the gaping wound that spread across my entire shoulder had faded to a white scar. She pressed her lips to my cheek, letting her arms wrap around my neck, her plump breasts resting across my chest, begging to be touched, and whispered in my ear as my eyes closed and my left arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to my arousal. "Product of your own stupidity, foolish youkai."

She laughed at the growl in her ear as my nose ran from her jawline to the base of her neck over and over again, taking in her scent as it rolled off of me in fresh waves of lust that pooled in the water around us. Mimicry. "I do not sound like that, woman," I smirked against her skin as my teeth scraped across her shoulder, tasting her exotic lust as it came from the source. She laughed, setting fire to the night sky with the sound of it, and nuzzled my neck as a mate would her beloved. "So beautiful…" My demon growled, running hands down her curved body under the water as she stared into my eyes, lust filling them.

Her fingers traced my markings, her lips parting with desire as she did so, and I found myself unable to withstand the distance between us. My lips inched toward hers, kissing her pale skin until they rested just above hers. Electricity sparked between us, good and evil clashing in the night as our auras made love under the stars. I bit down softly on her full lips, savoring the taste of her moan as it came across my skin, and pressed my lips to hers. The feeling was one of an emotion forbidden to me. It was not one of lust, not one of desire, but something deeper that grew in the air around us as her heart pounded away below her breast. My lips pressed to hers over and over again, tasting the lust on her tongue with mine as she breathed the cold night air of winter, filling the mist around us with scent of her arousal that had my demon snarling and my manhood aching for her touch below the waves.

Her legs found place over one of mine, her arms wrapped around my neck as mine gripped the flesh of her back, pleading with her silently not to part from me, not just in this moment, but for the rest of time. My lips left hers when her breathing came as pants in the night and my hungry lips trailed down her chest, kissing the heat between her breasts before our eyes met and the world ceased to exist around us. There was nothing else, just those eyes and the slight simper tugging at her lips as I adored her. I hadn't thought myself capable of such attachment, such affection for one human woman. I pressed heated mouth to the junction of her neck and brought her closer once more, smiling internally as her head fell to my chest and she allowed me to stare into her soul through the sapphire depths of her eyes.

There were not words to describe what boiled inside of me as I stared at her. How had anyone been capable of harming such eyes? How had anyone been able to tell her they had not desired her touch, desired to hear the music of her laughter only meant for their ears? I found myself unable to understand how the hanyou, a man I would never call brother, had been able to let her slip through his fingers. She placed her lips above the heart ignited only from her touch, her eyes shutting tightly as the melody played for only her ears, and smirked into my skin. "We are expected, Sesshomaru," she whispered into the night, the words from her lips ones that she did not desire to speak, and gazed up at the stars as she curled into the curve of my arm around her.

I pressed head to hers, my hand finding hers above the water our palms resting together in the moonlight. "They shall have to wait," I growled, narrowing my eyes. Should they expect me to pull myself away from her as she sat above me, trust and affection pouring from every pore in her body, they were fools. I kissed away injury upon her neck from my sword, begging forgiveness for staining the skin of a goddess, and stared into her eyes. So many answers to questions lurked in those depths, and I could not stop voice as it spoke softly for her. "Why do you not fear me, woman? You have seen the youkai inside of me yet you sit here, in my arms, as if nothing would tear you from them." I ran claw down her face as she leaned into me, stirring the calm water around us.

"Because nothing ever shall," her voice came as a whisper, caressing my aura with the warmth in it. "I will never be torn from you. Not by death, not by man, youkai or time. I'm with you, forever." She gazed up at me, her warm hand resting upon my face.

Forever. Such word was only applied to a woman mated to a demon, a woman that would never feel the pain of being separated from her lover, a woman that in my mind that had taken her face over the many months I agonized over the search for her smile. I pressed lips to her forehead, sealing my affections for her with our own taste of forever, and released her from my arms. "I shall wait for you at the trail, Kagome." I tasted her name as it came from my tongue, savoring it and her lips as they pressed so very softly to mine and fair became her face.

She came to my side only moments later, bringing her warmth back to me as she wrapped her arm around mine and met my eyes before question bubbled on her lips. "What do they wish to speak to me about?"

Trivial nonsense, I think it better that we head back to the water. "They wish to speak of battle plans; they wish to know where you will reside amongst the men when we take to the fields." Disdain coated my tone, and the desire for her to stay behind, safely tucked away behind this barrier came through my mask of uncaring. "They do not know of your strength only that you are an accomplished Miko of the northern village. You are to explain to them who you are, and should they object to your aide in fighting such a battle, I will kill them." I could already hear Raijukin growling with disproval, for a woman was to battle beside him, a woman was to be stronger than he was as she defeated the enemy.

She gripped me tighter, a frown staining her beautiful brow as we approached the field, the scent of blood and sweat permeating the air around her summer rain. "And should they all object?"

I smirked down at her, taking her hand in mine as we came to the mouth of the field, in front of the youkai with raised brows of expectation. "Then I shall slay them all."

"Talk of slewing the armies already on your tongue, old friend?" Kaji chortled as he came to her side, smiling down at her with all of his charm. My demon snarled. "Don't let him worry you, Miko, the only demon that objects to your right to battle has no say any longer, as you have saved his dear mate." Kaji laughed at my glare, taking her arm in his to lead her to the tent where the youkai generals and lords waited expectantly.

I was close to follow, almost finding humor in her blush as Kaji introduced her to the men, inside of the warm, lantern lit tent, commenting on how fair she was for a common shrine maiden until she was bright red with embarrassment. Words did not do her beauty justice, for there were none to rival the gleam in her eye or the taste of her lips. When he became distracted with the phoenix clan's female warriors, I led her to the generals of the east, west, and south: the men at the head of the strategy against Naraku. Ginbosu greeted her with the bow of his burly head, his humanoid form almost did not fit within these walls, and the others bowed respectfully, but terror lurked in their eyes. They feared me as did they her by association.

"We plan to strike him before he can strike us," Ginbosu began, showing her the maps of the eastern and southern lands. "Sesshomaru-sama knows that the hanyou we seek is not at the castle of the west, as we have it hidden in the shadows of the afterlife, protecting it from any living creature, so he must be lurking in either the east or the south, unless you can sense him in these mountains?" He wondered, glancing down at her as she thoughtfully gazed at the scrolls laid across a tree stump.

"He is not here," she assured as she looked down at the paper, her fingers finding place above the eastern castle. "I believe he is here. Has Jaken not gone to seek him in these lands as well?" She wondered, staring at me curiously until I gave her a curt nod. She could feel him through the paper?

"How is it that you are able to determine where the hanyou lurks, woman?" Raijukin spat, glaring down at her as he came into the tent, hatred for women of battle in his eye. "Can you sense him in all of your mighty spiritual nonsense?" he spat and I growled, moving to tear tongue from mouth for speaking to her in such a way, but her smile startled him more than my demon ever would and I allowed her to step forward.

"I can sense his miasma thick over the paper because this paper comes from the trees of the east, and it cries for its brothers who are dying from the poison touch of Naraku. You see, dragon," she addressed him as he had her and he snarled, falling short when my hand rested upon Tokijin's hilt. "I am no ordinary priestess, as you might have guessed when I saved your mate not a night ago. I guard the Shikon Jewel of Four Souls, and the power within it is entrusted to my hands, and my hands alone. I do not fear death, I embrace battle, and I shall be the one to kill that worthless hanyou before he harms anymore of the people I love." She showed the now quiet demons around us the cluster of shards around her neck and silence met her dark words. Pride swelled in me at her darkness, desire swelled at the words of love for her family, and I watched as the men turned from cold to enthused by her words, inspired by her courage.

She glared at the dragon, causing him to take a few steps back as her purified aura graced his skin, boiling it on contact. "I would think twice before you speak, youkai, for I haven't the patience for a man that does not see the value in a formidable ally. Now, Naraku is in the castle of the East, Jaken's report will confirm. What will we do, Sesshomaru-sama?" She asked, her eyes warming as they found place over mine, the hardness in her voice diminished as affectionate aura wrapped around me and I lost thought. When had she become a warrior? When had she left her fearful eyes behind for these passionate depths of flame?

"We," I swallowed and looked away, glaring at the army of youkai as they rose from her words, smirks lining their faces as she became a leader before them, an intense woman more worthy than any demoness of the title I bared. I took her hand in mine, staring at her with fiery eyes as my demon claimed her aura as his. My words became action and the youkai of all the clans rejoiced in thoughts of glory and bloodshed. "We are to prepare for battle."

**A/N: **

**So, when I was imagining the song that played when her soul called to his, all I could think of (and listen to) was Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No.1 in B-Flat Minor and the piano version of First Love by Utada Hikaru, so if you can imagine a mix of them both, it would be perfect. **

**And I named her sword Tsukiuta because he's part of the moon and her heart sings for him. *Don't-Hit-Me-I'm-A-Hopeless-Romantic.***

**The battle is still a few chapters away, but at last, our Sesshomaru has accepted he has feelings for Kags! Hoorah! :D And It's gonna get pretty awesome up in here…soon. lol**

**Review it**

**-Panda**


	21. Kiss the Rain

**A/N: Yay! I love this chapter 3 I hope you do too!**

**The only thing I hate is my inability to capture Jaken's personality in the first person. My writing is too poetic for that little bastard's evilness. **

**The title came from the piano song Kiss the Rain by Yurima. **

**AND M…Please be cautious of the ending of this chapter…and please don't explode.**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

**Kiss the Rain**

"I will not follow_ her_ into battle!"

"_You_ have no choice!"

"Oh haven't I? I remind you who you speak to, Kaji, I follow no one!"

"She will see battle, dragon. She is the only one of us capable to defeat common enemy."

"I do not trust her, _dog_."

"You don't have to, you stubborn dragon! The_ dog_ places his loyalty with her and so shall you!"

"His _loyalty_ lies within her cunt-"

My claws pinned him to the ground, my snarl louder than any of his words against her had been, and I saw red. My demon spoke to the stunned dragon lord, not I. "Should you ever speak such words against _my _woman again you will find head severed from burning corpse." Meaning of those words narrowed his eyes, but did not loosen my hold and would not, despite my regret of claiming her without my rational thought on the matter. "You will stand beside her in battle, dragon."

"I never imagined you would be so like your pathetic father," he spat, and my grip tightened, ripping open his scaly flesh. I relished in his whimpers of agony as poison dripped into injury, but let him loose as my eyes drifted to her still form when ears heard a peaceful sigh pass her lips.

Sleep had taken her hours ago when she sat beside me on the cool ground, her head resting against my shoulder. When her heartbeat stilled I understood the reason she was so openly affectionate in front of the lords of the east and south: the energy she had used exhausted her, and I would not be the one to turn her away, or wake her as product of idiotic argument. "My father was a thousand times the youkai you will ever be, ignorant dragon. I speak not of you following her, but fighting beside her. She will not lead the armies, I will not allow it." I growled, quieting the two hectic lords below my tent as their eyes turned to my place on the ground beside her. My hand foolishly ran through her black hair, my hands brought her to my side selfishly, and her warmth spread through my entire being when her arms wrapped around one of my legs.

"Because you desire her as your mate, Sesshomaru?" The dragon snarled, getting a hiss from the phoenix beside him before I spoke my answer.

"Because she is inexperienced with a blade," I glared with reddened eyes as my hand rested across her slight shoulders, keeping her safe from the dragon's blackening aura. "And she is far too valuable to lose to mindless youkai grunts. She is the only being powerful enough to purify the hanyou and eliminate the Jewel of Four Souls that has plagued us these many centuries. She will be placed atop the hill to the north of the castle with Inuyasha's wench, where she can destroy hundreds with her arrows from above. When the armies fall I will bring her in for the final attack against the enemy and we will vanquish him with minimal lives lost." My voice grew bored as I explained my plans of battle to the growling dragon and the smirking phoenix.

The dragon's eyes fell to the sleeping woman at my side and narrowed curiously. He had no right to look at her with such hatred after she used valuable energy saving his mate. She acted as though it did not exhaust her, but she slept so deeply during the night that not even our loud conversation could wake her. _So selflessly perfect..._ How could she possibly wish to stay beside a youkai as terrible as I? I smirked as her smile, even in slumber, lit up her face and allowed myself to hope, most likely in vain, that her dreams were of her and I locked away from the world in each other's arms. "Should you have further objection I am certain the miko will be able to reverse Mayumi's slowly healing youkai and allow her and the child inside of her womb to perish." The miko's arms tightened as I spoke and the dragon's eyes seemed to soften as they gazed down at her sweet smile with all of the gratitude a youkai lord would possess.

"Very well, Sesshomaru," he sighed, anger leaving his creased brow. "But Kaji, you, and I shall see the battle as we slaughter enemy from the frontlines. Let us only pray to her Kamis that you are right about her spiritual powers, or we shall _all _perish."

"Oh relax, Rai," Kaji chuckled as he poured another glass of wine when I wrapped an animal pelt around her shuddering shoulders. "The Miko has impressed the lord of the west and your mate owes her existed to the woman – she will not fail us, as this enemy has wronged her as well. Besides, any creature that can be as close as she is to all of our evil glory and remain so comfortable that she falls to slumber has power beyond compare."

The dragon seemed to agree as his yellow eyes finally left her form in peace, and my curled lip fell back to place over my fangs. "Apologies, my anger is only for fear of losing beloved mate and unborn child to the weakness of one human woman."

Weakness. What a nonsensical word when applied to the beauty in my grasp. "Fear not dragon," I mumbled as claws found place over her cheek. "She is the strongest human I have ever known, capable of destroying any youkai in her path a hundred times over."

_Even all of us, had she the mind to_.

"The East will support her in combat then." We three cringed when a howl sounded through the night – one of desire and lust from an Inu-youkai calling to her mate. "Well if you'll excuse me, my mate wonders why I am not in her bed at such late hour." The dragon nodded his head to us just as the miko nuzzled me, brining attention to her soft heartbeat. _So perfect_…he growled in my chest, nothing else bearing importance as her fingers closed around mine.

"Have fun, you old pervert," the phoenix grimaced, taking mind away from the goddess in my arms to the grinning dragon off to rut his mate. "And I should be off as well, the women await my arrival. I'd ask you to join me in my crusade, but I fear just as you've claimed the woman in your arms she had claimed you, and your cock no longer lusts for cunt that lasts but one night. I am happy that you have finally found much deserved love my dull, old friend." He grinned when my eyes narrowed hatefully, but ducked out of the tent of the west before snarl came to his ears.

"I do not love her."

"Of course not!" he shouted back, laughter in his darkened voice as the charms of his women enveloped him in the southern tent beside the mountain.

I spoke to myself as eyes turned on her and lust boiled in my stomach. "I do not love her…" I wanted her, and knew after my demon had fucked her until she screamed my name to the very heavens my interests in the secrets of her mind would diminish…wouldn't they? But I cared for her too much to break her heart after such an act that in her kind meant irrevocable love…for I did not love her.

"I cannot love you," I whispered against the top of her head, pressing my lips to the spot below her ear. I could never love her. The Inu-youkai clan and my lands would not call for a human mate in the west after my father's betrayal to the lady of the moon. My mother, above all, would never allow me to mate a human woman as my father did when he left her bed, however little saying she had in the matter of my happiness. I knew that Kagome could never be mine, yet, my embrace tightened around her, a smile came to my lips, and even my kiss lingered on her skin. Desire not of the carnal sort swelled inside of me and I claimed her lips so softly as not to wake her.

"How foolish…" I whispered against them, shutting my eyes as the bliss of her gentle touch and soft heartbeat surrounded me lovingly. "To want for something I can never have." To want for something that would never want me back.

Would she desire a youkai that had slain thousands in quest of nothing except supreme power? As I stared at her beautiful, passive expression in the dimly lit tent, said conquest seemed tired and misconceived. Had her lips not lain upon mine so that I might taste the desire she felt within herself? My mind recalled her body pressed against mine in the hot springs only hours ago: the way her warm curves felt against my claws still had me wondering how a goddess as perfect as she had been damned from the heavens to lurk in a human body until her death. Had her heartbeat lied to my ears as it became so very in sync with mine? I tasted the emotion as it came from the slowly beating lifeline that had become my own and found the melody pure and untainted by the darkness of deception. Had her eyes spoke treachery when they stared into my soul with an ardor that could burn the very snow around us? My claw traced her face, getting a smile of pleasure from her lips as her soft fingers came to rest over mine, and I knew they had not. She had not spoken a lie to me from the day we had been reunited and I knew she never would.

"Perhaps it is true, Kagome," I whispered against her cheek as my lips found place there amongst the warmth of her soul embracing me. Her fingers tightened around mine as they then found place above hers, and I found myself smirking like the fool I had become the moment I allowed my heart to rest in her hands. I placed our connected hands to my chest, sighing as peace wrapped around me. "It shall always rest with you, woman, surely you know that," I whispered when she curled into my body, craving in her state of unconscious closeness.

"Mutt," a growling voice companied by putrid stench stopped my even pace toward the village. Careful not to wake the woman safely tucked away in my arms, I turned to envious eyes as they gazed down at her locked in my embrace, curled against my chest as she slept soundly, her aura caressing my youkai as the eternal music of her heart swept over me. The intruder's lip quivered with rage as she pressed her head to my chest, seeking warmth as the winter wind swept across her skin. I saw his movement to take her from my arms before he could even take one step toward the woman he wanted to call his and I snarled in warning when he took but a single step closer, letting poison drip from my left claw as my right arm tightened around her body, keeping her safe against me and away from him.

"Come no closer to her, wolf, or I will not hesitate to remove your head."

He chuckled and rolled his eyes arrogantly, glaring down at the woman in my arms as though she betrayed him by being there. I could taste his jealousy on my tongue, see the redness in his eyes, and I knew that his control was slipping. Should he lose control this close to the miko…I would kill him before his true self could emerge and harm a sliver of hair on her body. "You should know how precious she is, dog, and before you even try, you don't deserve a woman like Kagome! I can smell the blood on your hands, see the blackness in your aura – how could a ruthless killer ever expect to find love from a priestess as good as Kagome? She should be mine!" He snarled, stomping his jewel-ridden legs as our stares met, my demon eager for battle with his.

Then her words, as clear as if she had spoken them, came to memory and tightened my hold. _The only thing that wolf cares about in me is my ability to see the jewel shards_; she had smiled sadly as she lay in my arms, twirling my hair in her fingers. _Should he take me as his mate he would steal this part of the jewel to gain power and use me until he had the entire thing. He doesn't love me. He loves what I can do. _

"I do not expect anything from her, wolf, as you would should she have decided to become your mate. I care about her safety, and wish for her not to catch illness so I am taking her back to her home before tonight's storm falls." Her hand tightening its grip on my arm betrayed my falsified words; yet, the wolf took no notice to the softness in my eyes as they cast down on her smile, drinking in her happiness, knowing I was the one that brought it to her aura.

"Oh yeah right, you think I don't see straight through you, mutt? You won't love her, you won't even mate with her because she'll give you the one thing you hate the most in this world: a hanyou," my eyes narrowed at the accusation and the thought of a child as pathetic as Inuyasha crossed my mind_._ A child with the symbol of the moon and bright blue eyes like the ocean, a smile on its lips as it called me father. I snarled and opened my eyes, letting the image burn from memory.

_No…I will not see a half-breed spawned of my affection for her. I will not be father to a hanyou._

He sensed my distress, grinning as he stared at the skin peeking from her loosened kimono. "And when the time comes, and she grows bored of waiting for you, she'll come back to me and I'll finally take _all_ of her as my own. I've smelled the lust on her for entirely too long…" My eyes widened as he spoke such vulgarities and a snarl passed my lips. If she had not been in my arms I would have killed him for even thinking of touching her with his filthy hands.

A flake from the black clouds above touched my nose, and as I stared down at her I noticed her skin had begun to shiver from the chill of the wind, shudder as the droplets found place upon her. "Go to your mate or risk her finding you only to dragging you off like a lost child. I haven't the time for your nonsense." I turned my back to the stubborn mongrel, getting a howl of rage for the way I dismissed him like the common pest he was. The night was shifting, the wind howling against the tall mountains, and a storm would hit before the sun claimed these lands again. Without another glance back at the enraged wolf, I took to the skies and traveled toward her village, tucking her head under my chin to keep the wind from biting her skin until my feet touched down on the tender earth outside of her hut.

Laying her beside the lifeless fire pit, I slipped outside and gathered the dry logs to bring warmth into the icy dwelling and to her chilled skin below the coverings and animal furs. Certainly these walls were unfit for the most cherished member of the village. The wood creaked and moaned as the wind whipped through its cracks, threatening her teeth to being chattering in her mouth as I lit the fire. Should we defeat Naraku unscathed I would not allow her to stay in this place without reparation.

I watched as she sighed in the circle of my arms, wrapped in the mokomoko form my shoulder, and a smile found its way to her lips. She pressed her cold nose to my neck and inhaled deeply as if the warmth from my youki was as valued as the air she breathed. I did not feel the bitterness of winter on my skin, nor did I feel the heat of summer or the warmth of the spring rain, only the fire that raged through me from her touch as her fingers toyed with the opening of my kimono.

Staring into the fire, a frown found its way on to my face as my lip curled in anger. The wolf spoke only the truth. I wished to claim her as my own, selfishly, to see her absent the arms of another man. I wished to bury myself between her legs until she thought of no other, see her smile for the rest of time beside me as she lie in my bed, yet I could not accept the product of such affection, should it come to pass as it seemed inevitable. Would I betray her for a woman that would give me a full youkai heir? The very thought tightened chest and sent my demon snarling with rage, ready to tear me to pieces from the inside out. I could not betray her, I _would not_. "I am loyal only to you," I whispered as lips pressed to her forehead and my arms tightened, showing that my place would forever be beside her.

_A hanyou_.

His voice rang through the home as the fire cackled and raged in the pit, warming the walls. I only knew of one hanyou and he was so pathetic I would never call him brother…but weak? Was Inuyasha truly weak? My head fell to hers as she curled her legs under mine and fell still, the music of her heart beat slowing until I strained to hear it. I shut my eyes and saw a child in her arms, pale as the snow with a moon on its forehead, intelligent blue eyes staring up at me as I held them both, and found such warmth in the picture painted across my mind.

Had my father felt this? Had he seen my half-brother in his mind before his human mate had even been taken? Had he felt such…emotion for something spawned only from the hope that it would be possible? _Father…did you find yourself in Inuyasha's human mother as I have in her?_ I pressed my lips to her forehead once more tasting her affectionate aura across her sweet skin as cherished heartbeat returned to my ears, a new melody its contagious song. A blast of tobacco scented wind raced through my aura as I let my heart beat in time with hers again, tightening my limbs around her with his reassuring response from the heavens. "Then perhaps, father…_love_…is not so bad."

* * *

"Ah-Un could you fly straight, you mindless beast?" I shouted loudly and the dragon grunted as it winded through the clouds, going to a place only the Kami's could conceive as I carried all of the belongings my Sesshomaru-sama had ordered me to bring from the castle of the west. Now the beast threatened to drop the various scrolls and articles from his private chambers with his nonsense! "Damn you, Ah-Uh should we drop any of these things Sesshomaru-sama and his wench will have both of our lives!"

That damned wench…she had changed my lord in the most despicable way! Using her magic to transform him into a youkai that cared for her safety above all others! If I had the strength to I'd kill her myself so that we might be on our journey of creating the most powerful empire in all of the lands once more with me as head of his defenses! "Stupid woman, taking away the most valued traits in my Sesshomaru-sama. I shall have her head a spike for it!"

We had traveled many days from my master's castle now…and my aching backside proved it. Why did he send me, his most loyal servant, on these foolish errands? I'd already been to the south and found nothing, what was there to be found at the east! However, not even the touch of Naraku's poison had calmed the heat over the lands Kaji-sama ruled…the humans had died from the mixture of heat and his poison, lining the streets with their rotten corpses. Kaji-sama was not going to be happy about that.

I yelped in alarm when Ah-Un's eyes suddenly narrowed as we approached the castle of the east, and he dove below the clouds to a castle that was not one of my memories – this place was downright depressing and I knew that Raijukin-sama would not allow it to enter such a state under his command! This castle had one been beautiful and thriving as everything in the east was, yet now it lay in the middle of dead flower meadows and a purple miasma so thick it almost penetrated that wench Kagome's barrier around myself and Ah-Un. What had become of Raijukin-sama's castle? "Ah-Un, go in for a closer look! With that miko's stone we are unseen and unheard, so now would be the time to show Sesshomaru-sama I am not a worthless minion, but a warrior to be reckoned with!" I rejoiced, waving my staff around proudly as pictures of me standing beside him in royal clothing crossed my mind.

We crept up to one of the windows and my eyes widened at the sight within the chambers Raijukin and Mayumi had sat in previously. Naraku stood, the woman of the wind in front of him and they spoke to one another as they…mated. They truly did not sense our presence all because of the power hidden in a simple stone? I narrowed my eyes as he spoke to the wench. "Have you found her?" His hands traveled down her body in a way only a mate would have done, but what were they searching for, and why couldn't someone find that blasted woman some clothing! Even I had to admit, Kagome was a welcomed sight in league with the wench of the wind as she stood beside my master.

She moaned her words, turning my stomach as I watched and fought to remain silent. "Kagome remains unfound, master, but Kanna and Kohaku both claim to have seen a priestess in the northern village at the base of the tallest mountain. When we got to the ground she had vanished, not even her scent remained." They were searching for the miko? He sought to kill her! _Oh…should Sesshomaru-sama find out! _I didn't want to think of the calamity that would pass if Naraku threatened his potential mate!

Naraku chuckled darkly, sending shivers through me and the already spooked dragon that nudged me, desire to leave before we heard of the hanyou's plans on his unspoken tongue. "It's her, the clever wench. Excellent work Kagura. Gather my armies…we shall move on the North when my body has finally regenerated," he glanced down at his stomach and I found his body cut in two parts, an aura of some sort surrounding his wounded flesh. The parts from his consumed youkai regenerated slowly after attack from that miko, and he was already looking for Kagome for revenge! He wasn't whole, yet he planned attack on my Sesshomaru-sama and the men in our armies! Had he gained so much power…or was he beyond arrogant and stupid? Sesshomaru-sama could rip him to pieces in such a state. Whatever the case, we were in danger and I was the only youkai on Sesshomaru-sama's with knowledge of it!

"Come, Ah-Uh!" I commanded, kicking his sides impatiently. "We must warn Sesshomaru-sama at once!"

* * *

I watched her slink through the shadows, trying to remain unnoticed in the dawn light coming from the east. After accepting the adoration my youkai held for her, I had watched her every day, always from afar only to find her growling to herself when her singing blade would burn her fingers as she tried to harness its energy. The youki – my youki – in the blade would always overpower her sweet energy, ending in the angry red marks across her palms and arms and the fire in her eyes as we clashed steel in practice. I wanted to kiss away the soreness in her palms, bring an end to her suffering and tell her how I felt about her, but eyes were ever present and should my emotions come to light they would not stand beside another Inu-youkai like my father. But she had improved greatly, despite my constant distraction in watching her every move, showing me all of her weakness and diminishing them in the same instant when I attacked them furiously. This would was not allowed to have weakness, not if she was to stand my woman for all eternity. I would not see her fall because she did not know how to guard her right flank, or because her shield had fallen over a single inch of her body. Kagome would not fall to any hand…not with my training.

Now she had risen when I went to bathe, ever mindful of guarding her until the sun began to rise, and a smile rested across her lips as she thought she had gained advantage. Perhaps, if I were any other youkai she would have, but she should have known better. Her excitement, rolling off of her in waves, was almost charming as she left her beautiful scent on every tree that she passed with her fingertips, bringing the forest to life with her magic. She came to face the mouth of the field of awakening youkai before I revealed myself to her, my aura wrapping around her shoulders just as Tokijin pressed into the small of her back. "You expect to gain advantage by rising before the sun when you know that I do not sleep, Miko? How foolish," I growled against her neck, pressing my lips to her heated, pink flesh until she gasped lowly, exposing the sweet skin to my touch fractionally.

She pushed my chest with her back unexpectedly, spinning around with infinite grace to press her sword of the moon to my raised youkai blade, fire in her eyes. "I had hoped in vain, I am afraid," she mumbled, her lips turning up into a smile as I pushed against her with a strength I knew she could not overcome. "There is just no besting you, Sesshomaru-sama," she taunted, the youki spreading across her skin, my youkai betraying me as she used the borrowed power to her advantage. I grinned as she showed me her progress and made the first move, claws going for her small neck as the swords shrieked between us, a song of war their cries. She jumped from me, slashing at my right side purposefully before I blocked her predictable offense, pushing her breakable frame into a tree.

With the aide of my demon's arms wrapped around her body seductively, his hands pressing down on her blade, she pushed me back, making an escape with the white light from the moon sword. With a glare at the youki spirit swirling around her, we began to weave through the tents around the wakening youkai moving out of our path routinely when steel clashed through the morning dew, creating music that was well known to their ears now. "Must you fight every day at sunrise?" Kaji shouted angrily, stepping between us as we came to place before the tent of the south, only wearing his hakama as the Miko and I fought around his irritated grimace. He was like a tree standing with his arms on his hips, a motherly glare upon his lips. "Children," he grumbled finally, his eyes widening at the sound of my snarl when the miko jumped on his back, going from the right to the left as I attacked with brute strength, aiming to dismount her legs from the enraged phoenix shouting at us both to stop our foolishness_. Mine. _The youkai growled at the phoenix for being close to her and my eyes turned red when Kaji noticed the irritation of her position, his hands coming up to support her, touching her upper thighs very suggestively until my youkai's aura was black with hatred.

I growled, pushing her shoulders with poisoned claws, and knocked her from of the cross phoenix with my jealously. He then went on to ignore us both and make his morning meal. When she recovered, I had gained inches and Tokijin pressed against Tsukiuta hatefully at her chest. She managed to escape, turn her back to me, and race through the tents, provoking my youkai as she kept me at bay with the infuriating white light. Static energy pushed against my might as I finally found weakness on her right side and aimed for it brazenly. She took note of her training and jumped away from me in the same instant, using Tsukiuta to rival my horrible speed as we danced through the mess of tents, blocking each attack we threw and getting a few in where possible.

She did something I should have expected next and let her sword slip from delicate fingers. My eyes softened and we left the mess of scattered tents for the frost bitten tall grass of the forest, still within eye and earshot of the wakening clans. She laughed joyously when I dropped Tokijin beside her forgotten blade as well and tackled her into the snowy grass, holding her so close that she wouldn't feel the ground even after we'd fallen. I smirked against her neck once more when arms wrapped around my shoulders. "You allowed me to best you that time, Miko." I bit down on her shoulder, claiming my victory in a battle that had started with her smile rather than my irritated snarl of hatred. I only wished my cock inside of her, this mark the mark that would connect her to me forever – but it was not. I had not even the courage to kiss her lips since the moment I accepted my affections for her, fear of being unable to control myself claiming my every thought.

My eyes came to rest hers as she lay on top of me, my body settling into the ankle deep snow, her hands tracing muscles of chest. The action had me remembering the way she felt in my hands in the hot springs until I was sure my lust was very noticeable against her now. We stayed together for what felt like days of serene bliss before my eyes met hers again, hands still on either side of her waist as she stared down at my enlivened eyes.

"So what?" She challenged, smirking at my now narrowed eyes. _So should you commit an act so foolish in battle…I will lose you forever. And I cannot live without you any longer._

"That is not the point of training you. You are at least to try and best me." I stared down at her with such intensity looking back from those ocean depths that I thought I'd already drowned in them until her hand cupped my cheek, tracing my markings lovingly.

I leaned into her touch as she shook her head and mumbled dejectedly, rolling off of me to watch we the gray clouds clash together angrily in the winter sky. "Your plans only require for me to throw my attack at him, not fight him as though I would any other youkai." She reminded, smiling as our eyes met and our hands connected instinctively from the act between us. She had not been too pleased with my cowardly placing of her, but I couldn't hardly speak the words 'woman, I care too much to see you injured', so I convinced her and my armies that it was for the greater good.

The wind changed around us, pulling my evil youkai over her passive aura, and when I rolled on top of her, her lips went to my ear, whispering playfully as her hands pressed to my chest below the armor across it. "Again," she laughed, her glowing hand pushing against my chest, successfully throwing me across the field beside Tokijin as she used my youkai's strength inside of the blade to recover Tsukiuta. She…had mastered her ability? When had I not taken notice to such a feat?

However surprised I was, I met her mid field the moment the purified youki blade was in her hands, attacking me with purpose now, smirk fallen into a grimace. This was the Sesshomaru I was used to being; cold, evil, vindictive, and out for blood. She smirked back at me, letting the youki energy flow through her entire being when my eyes flashed red, meeting the demonic Tokijin with her white electricity. I pushed against her chest when the wind began to shift around us again, throwing shards of ice into the warmth of our auras and the clouds above shuddered hatefully, lightning striking across the now black skies as our opposites met in the dark forest. "You will not win, woman," I threatened when my youkai emerged from her blade, wrapping himself around her protectively, and reached for her with dripping claws.

My eyes widened in fear for her sanity when hand shot up to meet claws before I had wrapped them around her neck. She began purifying the poison as it rolled down my arm, turning it to fresh water that stained the long grass at our feet. "_You _will not win this time, youkai." Her voice had darkened, deepening with rage as my own smirk became a fanged grin. _At last, an opponent to rival my strength._ I should have known such competitor would have been the woman of my heart.

She could feel my youkai's energy tightening in her stomach now spreading across her chest, strengthening her thin arms as it rippled through the muscles, seared through her veins, shifting her from the loving priestess my heart ached for to the red eyed youkai that lurked within Tsukiuta. She looked like a demoness, snarling with fanged teeth and reddened eyes as my energy flowed through her in perfect time with her purifying strength.

But my eyes narrowed at her appearance, the disguise the sword spilled across her skin when she embraced the black aura swirling in its wind did not fool me – within her still lurked the beautiful maiden of my every thought. When I moved to strike her side with the long blade, she released the bubbling fire from her fingertips, watching with a grin as it trickled down the black blade, staining it red with her blood.

But unlike the first time she had attacked me, she contained the fire of my youki as it raged inside of her, kissing her lips as it roared protectively. My voice, the youkai in my soul's voice, whispered in her ear, embracing her as his hands grabbed the sword over hers. "_I shall always protect you_," we both promised, yet it was he kissing her pale cheeks as my might flooded through her, leaving her without breath when her gazed turned back on the humanoid form of the youkai holding her close.

The electricity crackled around us, the youkai's arms keeping her safe from its ferocity, and I watched in wonder as his words commanded her light, commanded her arms that pushed me back with easily with a snarl as the split youki betrayed me again. "Don't hurt him," She warned the growling demon in her ear, despite my ability to meet every attack with matched speed, but when the youkai of the blade nodded against her skin, she let the light flood through it, silencing the very wind around us into nothingness.

I was pushed back, the light not seeking to harm me, only to disarm the screaming possessed blade in my hands. She knocked me to my knees, a position I'd only held in front of her once. She was incredible, using the power she knew I would give until I perished to her advantage and just the way she desire for it to be used. She told the youkai not to harm me, and he hadn't. When the light faded, the youkai pressed his lips to hers and retreated within her chest once more; opening her eyes to a sight she hadn't expected to see. Tsukiuta was pressed to my neck, my face emotionless as I stared up at her wide eyes – hiding mine. Tokijin had been blasted across the field, smoking as it melted the snow with its heat, and when she turned back from the sight of the suffering blade, I smirked up at her with warm eyes. Pride swelled at her victory, and perhaps I was even more elated than she was, knowing that now nothing would be able to take her from me should I be unable to save her. She was, after a week of irritation, day and night practice, getting her rounded ass handed to her every day by my sword, the victor of our battle.

"I will not beg for my life, woman. Make your decision as you have rightly won the right to remove my head, should you so desire." My voice held jest, making her rigid posture loosen and eyes dance with excitement as a smile cross her lips. She let her guard down, dropping the sword with a shake of her head. I took advantage quickly, pressing claws to her throat from where I now lie on top of her in the snow – once again besting her and reclaiming my wounded pride. "Hmm…now we shall never know your decision," I growled against her lips as my hands were replaced with bites and kisses that teased her hot skin, making her eyes shut tightly and a pleasured groan come from her mouth. She desired me.

"I bested you, admit it," She laughed, running her hands down my chest when I had taken to staring down at her radiance. My eyes went from playful to fiery, and I bent down, grazing my lips with hers, whispering against them as my mind tried to grasp what was happening with my possessed hands at her hips, my lips teasing her plump ones with the softest of kisses as I fought for control of the hungry, caged youkai.

"At last you have learned to use our strength to best an enemy. Pride swells at the action, Kagome." I kissed her name as it rolled off of my lips, smiling freely at the warmth from her fingers caressing my cheeks.

When my eyes roamed the face of this perfect warrior face hungrily, she blushed red until I was smirking slightly at whatever it was that she found embarrassing in my stare. My sharp nails ran down her cheek, grazing her plump breast only to find place on her hip, my manhood pressing against the armor across my legs. She sighed against me, her eyes going from deep blue to black and her lips pressed to mine with such emotion that I was left rigid from her touch, my eyes open in wonder as the world melted away before us. I wanted to mate her. I wanted to see her gasp as my hands roamed every single inch of her body. There was no stopping the redness in my eyes now, the paling of my skin as my claws dug into her arms and brought her close.

It was the first kiss I had shared with her lips since the night I admitted I cared deeply for her, and it was one of emotion that I knew well after many days of living it beside her. I could feel everything inside of her chest, matching everything inside of mine. The miko's hands left my chest and she blushed deeper when in my shock I had not kissed her back, but simply turned into a frightening image of the mans he felt this affection for. The blackness left her eyes and she began stumbling over her words, ending the moment between us with the fear in her eyes – a fear I did not understand and did not want there. I wanted to feel _that _kiss, not see this hesitation. I wanted to taste her desire for me. I wanted to know that she felt this maddening lust inside of her so I might embrace it and share my existence with her.

"I'll be at the hot springs," she whispered finally, finding her voice. She bit her lip self-consciously as I reached for her hand but found that she had already begun walking away. What had darkened in her eyes as I spoke her name and felt such fire from her kiss? My demon retreated, mourning the loss of her touch and my eyes flickered gold to watch her run from me. Could she, a mere human, feel everything as I did? Did she share this feeling, this feeling that no longer was one simply of the need to find comfort in another creature? She turned to me, regret on her features as a frown formed upon my face, and disappeared into the forest.

My eyes flashed red, desire brining him to light once more when her sad smile vanished and my legs carried me into the dark forest, a smirk on my lips as the youkai claimed me. _I will not let that be the end._

* * *

What the hell was I thinking? Why the hell was I even thinking about him that way? Why…_when _did I let myself feel this? I cursed myself for kissing him like that, regretting the way his eyes widened because he could feel my emotion as it was so connected to his youkai. "Oh," I moaned as I fell against a tree on the pathway to the springs, tears staining my vision. "What the hell is wrong with me? How can I…_love_ him?" I whispered the words so not even the trees would hear me, but it was like something struck me deep inside, ringing though the morning air and I could not deny it. I loved him. I'd loved him from the moment he took me in his arms and saved me in what felt like another life away.

And how couldn't I? My hand pressed to my loud heartbeat, thundering away below my skin, and a blush came to my cheeks. He was perfect, that's exactly why I had let myself fall so dangerously close to him now. It had only been a week, a week of his hushed kisses to almost everywhere except my lips, warm embraces in the wintry nights, and this desire that had swelled, begging for just one kiss – to let him feel exactly what I did. Meditation, trying to forget about him as a lover and as a friend, a person to find comfort in, hadn't worked. I was hopeless and incredibly in love with him, and despite the premature ire running through me, I wanted to dance in the snow and sing it to the heavens. I wanted his arms to wrap around me and never let go. I wanted to stand beside him as his woman, not as his companion and ally. I wanted to feel the thick desire that pressed into me when we kissed inside of me, claiming me as his for the rest of time.

But that was just the problem.

I hung my kimono on a fallen tree as I undressed, dipping my toes into the warm water. Sesshomaru did not feel that way for me. He wanted to stay beside me because neither of us could deny this attraction, but one it was quenched, once that thirst had gone, he wouldn't feel the need to be close to me anymore. I cherished him as my friend, cared about him as the man of my heart, and loved him as the youkai so misunderstood by everyone else. I knew of the blood on his hands, I knew of the merciless killing they brought…but I also knew of the warmth in his eyes, the gentleness in his touch on my skin, the emotion in his voice as he spoke to me when we were alone.

We'd be together forever, but he would not love me as I loved him – would he? Could he? He hated humans, and I was one, so where did that leave me as his kiss raged across my skin and his lust pressed against me? I could never stand beside him as his mate because his clan, his lands, would not accept a human after what his father had done. I knew that, but when I stared into his eyes I felt that none of that mattered, that he would give it up for me…and that was foolish. He had been intimate with me from the moment I swore myself to him, but I would not let desire step in front of his responsibility. He was a youkai responsible for an entire region of people – and I would never ask him to give up the freedom I knew he felt as he flew over his lands.

My hand shot up out of the water to grab my sword at the sound of a twig snapping under someone's foot, water cascading off of me as Sesshomaru's youki embraced me and we gripped the sword hatefully. "Who's there?" I called, my heart racing until a red eyed lord of the west emerged from the trees, staring at me angrily.

I sank back down into the water, letting Tsukiuta fall from my fingertips, and gulped as he made no move to calm himself, spoke no words of reassurance. His brow creased as a bare foot stepped into the water and my eyes widened. He removed his armor, throwing it to the side as his marks became jagged and shrugged out of his kimono, revealing the pale skin and jagged purple marks across his chiseled waist. I looked away, blushing as desire licked my insides when his hands moved to untie his pants. I gasped when claws grabbed my hips, pulling me close as lips fell to my ear. "Forgive me, Miko," he growled the words, resting his head on my shoulders as his wild youki swirled in the air around my excited aura. "I am unable to forget your lips, unable to put your smile from my mind…" he trailed off when I turned in his arms, moaning deeply as he pressed his thick length to the dip between my hips, my arms wrapping around him tightly at the action.

His claws ran down my curves, bringing me closer to me in the water, his hardness between my slightly parted legs, rubbing up against my aching sex. My heartbeat faster than it ever had and he stared into my eyes hungrily as a blush spread across my cheeks . "Do you not fear me now, Miko, my true self?" He whispered, biting my neck softly until I was moaning into the bitter afternoon air. His hands rest on my hips, engorging themselves on the feel of my skin as one of his hands moved to my stomach, trailing downward slowly but as I opened my tight eyes, I found his had faded golden and desire was replace by something I didn't know he could feel. "Do not ever think again that I do not desire you, Kagome," he whispered, his lips crushing against mine before a gasp could even think to form on them.

* * *

My hand that had found place at her hips moved down her silken skin to the center of her body, groaning as I found her ready for me. She was dripping with lust when they dragged across her soaked slit and she pressed her breasts to my chest, kissing my neck. "Sesshomaru," she moaned in my ear, pressing her body to mine as fingers met her cunt, toying with the wet desire dripping from it, growling as lust filled my rock hard cock. My demon snarled and fought to be released again; flashing my eyes red in the shadow of hers as her breasts rose and fell with the calm waves around us, tempting my tongue to wrap around the hard pink nipples there.

Hands wrapped around her thighs as she stared at me with hardened eyes, and I pulled her to my lap, smirking when she moaned at the length that ran across her heated flesh, feeling the slick folds of her sex until I found my eyes flashing red with desire. She straddled me, wrapping her legs around my waist, and our eyes met through the mist of the heated water. Desire lurked in those blue eyes, and I knew it did in mine as well. I wanted her. I wanted to take cock in hand and press it into her tight sex, calling her mine for all time as my teeth sank into her neck when she screamed my name.

Instead my hand pinched and teased her hardened nipple, smirking as she squirmed against my member between her legs that had pressed against the entire length of her sex. "If we go any further, Miko," I warned as she wrapped her fingers around my length between us, running them up from head to hilt until I felt like purring in her ear from the sensation racing through my entire being, fighting the lust's will to shove it into her tight folds became almost unbearable. "I will not be able to stop myself from taking you," I growled when her hands gripped me tighter at the words, running my hardness from her clit down to her opening, spreading lust across me as I groaned from much desired touch. I had never felt such desire to take a woman, and I could not fight the need to mate her any longer, the demon would not allow it.

I nipped her flesh and let my eyes fall red again, my true form seeking its true mate, and fought the urge to spread her legs wide open and shove my aching need into her tight depths. The demon begged me to take her as she mewed softly from every touch, begged me to taste the lust pooling on my fingers. I wrapped my aura around hers, bringing her even closer to me with the touch of my lips to hers, my fingers dipping passed her entrance to find she had untouched by any other man as whimpers of pleasure escaped her. _She will be mine and only mine_. The demon rejoiced, bringing my fingers from the water to lick away her desire in front of her dark eyes.

She groaned loudly when I pressed the head of my cock to her entrance, growling at how tight her sex was around just the very tip of throbbing manhood. I would take her this day, and never part from her again. Her hands ran down my back, pleading me not to stop, her breathing came in pants as my claws ran across the hardened bud between her legs, sending wetness dripping down my cock inside of her. She moaned my name, her nails dragging across my flesh as her hips swirled, silently pleading for more until my claws dug into the skin of her hips and fangs inched toward her flesh, ghosting across the hardened nipples on each of her breasts before moving to claim her forevermore as mine. She was mine. They stopped as they reached her neck, my eyes flashing gold as they stared down at the woman in my arms, _love_ of all things, winning out over lost for just one moment as I worshipped her.

"Stop." I commanded coldly, pushing her off of me as a blackened aura approached quickly, tearing me from her clutches. My body desired for her touch no longer as a demon of high ranking was headed toward us rapidly. I reached for Tokijin and pushed her red body behind me, growling at the intruder. "Show yourself," I snarled, holding the demonic sword to purpose as her hands found place on my waist, fear oozing from her lust-ridden scent.

"D-don't attack Sesshomaru-sama! I am sorry for the intrusion; I was sent by Kaji to inform you that the toad youkai returns and won't speak with anyone but you! Apologies," Ginbosu boasted from a fair distance when scent of arousal hit his sensitive nose. I could tear him apart.

"Leave us, we shall be there presently," I snarled, letting the sword fall to the ground as he had already taken his leave of cowardice.

Jaken would die for this. I would strangle him with his own tongue as I watched his body burn.

Eyes met hers over my shoulder and found she was bright red, holding her fingers to her lips as tears pooled in her eyes. Regret crossed her face. She did not want to be with me like this? I turned and kissed away her tears, finding a smile on her lips that betrayed the blush on her face. "Apologies," I whispered as arms snaked around her middle, bringing her heated flesh to mine again, the demon retreating and at last clearing my mind. I did not want this, should she awaken from her lust to regret it.

Her hands ran through my hair, the smile widening as she rested her head against my chest. "Don't apologize," she muttered, shaking her head as she listened to my beating heart in time with hers. Her lips dragged across mine, her body shuddered with desire as my hardness pressed against her again and her arms brought me closer, her words filled with lust as they whispered against me. "I didn't want you to stop."

**A/N:**

**Review it. **

**-Panda**


	22. The Fallen

**A/N: So, I'm gonna be updating mostly on the weekends now, I think. At least until my training is over. Working for Microsoft…es un pinche pedo, guey, ni sabes. And sorry for the lateness. I know it's been two weeks, but when you understand what chkdsk in CMD means, you come telling me you had tons of time to start writing -_- lol. Enjoy :)**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

**The Fallen **

"Sesshomaru," she whispered against me, her lips pressing to my shoulder before eyes connected and I was lost once more, fighting to keep the demon from claiming her in this water like a common savage. "We are expected," she gasped as I pushed against her, sliding her hair away from her neck as my teeth scraped across tender flesh and hands grew a mind of their own, running down her beautiful body, curling around every curve, scraping across every exposed bone, dashing from her jutting hips to the dip between them.

"I could care less," I growled as she wrapped her arms around my neck, a blush across her face as I pulled her to me, my hands leaving her wet folds, albeit reluctantly. Naraku would still be there, threatening the world with his puny wrath, the moment after I made her mine. My youkai kissed down her chest, sparking my lips to purpose from the bone at the junction of her neck to the budded breasts in my touch. Her hands caressed my body, gliding over the muscles of my back, dragging along the strength of my chest, finally rolling down my abdomen to graze the flesh that yet ached for her touch.

She smiled so softly as my eyes met hers between us, lips leaving reddened nipples as she called my attention silently, bringing her energy to wrap around mine, and halting my brazen actions. "And should you wake tomorrow to find me lying beside you with your mark upon me, would you still feel the same? Would you still desire me as you do in this very moment, or am I simply another step in your quest of supremacy over all living things?" Laughter coated her tone, sending my lips once more to her neck as I spoke, incapable to control the hands that now wrapped around her cadaverous waist, weeping for every bone they felt along the way.

I pressed lips to her cheek, my eyes shutting as she sighed pleasurably into me, so comfortable beside a youkai that could tear her apart with one simple gesture. "Should I wake to find you naked beside me in my bed, the mark of my moon upon your body – never to be removed – I would draw you into my unbreakable grasp, kiss every inch of your skin, and have you shouting to the heavens until you doubted me, and my honor, no longer." I mumbled against her shuddering flesh, unable to resist my touch just as I was unable to resist hers as it gripped my length, rolling red eyes back in my skull with the scent of her desire dripping upon my throbbing member. "However, such a moment will not come to pass here," I promised, taking her hands in mine as eyes opened and mind realized that we stood in the middle of a forest where any human, youkai, or mindless beast might feast upon her silken skin as I claimed it.

Cherishing every breath and savoring every pulse of her heart, we stood above the water in tight embrace, unnecessary words unspoken as I held her to me, promising silently that I would never hurt her as my stupid brother had. I would never dishonor her warmth that spread across my skin by the sight of a natural smile upon her lips and I would never be parted from her side by something as trivial as my inability to accept what she could give me in her human life. None of those uncertainties mattered as I stood in the circle of her arms, calmed against the smooth waves osculating our flesh, staring into her deep blue eyes as if they were the most stunning sight to behold in this life – for they were. "I am going to murder Jaken," I mumbled, lips grazing her grin as she laughed lowly, pressing her hands above my musical heartbeat in seamless measure with hers now.

"Not before I strangle him to death."

She tied her haori as we both exited the warmth of the spring; my back to hers as hers was to mine under the graying sky. She giggled with a hand covering her lips as I glared in the direction of the village at the sound of squawking of a toad and the shuffling feet of a tired dragon, and came to stand in front of me with her hands raised to my uneven kimono. She straightened it, her fingers lingering on my chest as her eyes unleashed their vehemence upon my soul. "You are hopeless, Sesshomaru-sama," she sighed, tying my armor tightly around my chest when I found my fingers unable to do so. "What would you do without me?" She spoke the words with jest as she tied her obi, yet my mind had wondered the very same thing – how had I lived before I knew of this maddening, bewitching warmth? Had I even lived?

With a smirk on my lips, hand trailing up the exposed flesh underneath her kimono, I breathed the words upon her ear, relishing in the scent of her arousal and the sight of her hardened nipples below thin cotton. "Before you there was never any need to remove my clothing…if I appear to be hopeless it is only because I stand before the only woman to ever, and who will ever, see me so vulnerable." My demon purred against her blushing cheeks, lips unable to refrain from tasting the delicacy in front of their eyes.

She almost spoke before we entered the field, and would have had we not been suddenly bombarded by an aura well known to me; an aura I wished to end eternally as it screeched up at me with purpose. Jaken took one notice to the hand grasped in mine and assaulted her with his infuriated words, stirring the demon within my chest. "Unworthy ningen wench, unhand Sesshomaru-sama at once!" He shouted, waving the staff of two heads at her until he found place between two rocks and the old man opened his mouth with a shout of fire at the bewildered woman in my grasp.

My demon guarded her, stepping in front of the flames that licked my aura uselessly. "Silence, youkai," My infuriated voice snarled as the flames died, widening Jaken's eyes. "You touch even one hair on her head, Jaken, and I will kill you. Have you news of the hanyou?" I finally growled as he bowed down before me several times, begging forgiveness for aggravating my demon so freely.

"Y-yes Sesshomaru-sama," he began, glaring at the Miko as she blushed beside me when all eyes turned to her, yet found my claws had not been removed. "Naraku lurks in the Castle of the eastern lands! Using the Miko's stone I was able to uncover his plans, Sesshomaru-sama, he plans to gather his youkai armies and invade the North until Kagome gives herself to him and ends all of this nonsense!" He shouted, glaring at the woman behind me as my eyes widened. He would destroy these lands, kill thousands of innocent youkai and ningen families for one maiden?

"How foolish of him to think he might take her from me," I smirked down at Jaken's stunned expression, my hand tightening over hers with those words of possession. They were rightly spoken, for I answered to none of the youkai whispering of our affair before me. "We are to march eastward at sundown. Prepare yourselves as needed," My bark of a command sent the warriors to purpose, despite their reluctance to hear I would not let anything take this woman from my arms. Naraku would not have her. Not while I lived.

She tugged on my hand as Jaken still stared up at us in shock, frowning deeply. "What has you upset, Miko?" I mumbled as claws came to rest upon her cheek reassuringly and my youkai curled around her. She took my fingers and refused to meet my eyes as she spoke, her words sparking fury inside of me.

"Why should I not simply give myself to Naraku, Sesshomaru-sama, before he has the ability to harm any other innocent people? Your armies could easily best him and bring Kikyo the corpse to purify – I could give her instructions to destroy the jewel once he's dead, and no one else will be harmed," she whispered and my breathing stopped, my demon frozen around her shoulders as she spoke of her death in such a way that I felt… _sorrow_…ripple through limbs, causing them to wrap around her shoulders securely, promise of never letting go their silent words as I pushed sight of her choking on her own blood from mind.

"No. We shall stand in front of him as one, fight as two parts of the same being, and claim victory together before he has the chance to advance on these lands." My voice had become low in her ear, yet words were command not option, and I found myself staring down at her wide blue depths as I confessed true reason. "I will not give you to him, Kagome. I cannot." I spat my weakness, glaring away from her as it consumed me before her actions had the chance to unfold.

She nodded against my chest, giving me final reason to end the wide-eyed stares from the generals in my lands and release her. "Come," I commanded as I moved away from her soft touch, grabbed her hand in mine, and dragged her away from the field.

We came to my tent where Ah and Un had fallen to the ground, slumber on their expressions as she entered and kneeled before them. Her hands ran down his face, igniting jealousy from the action, and her voice was sweet as she spoke to the exhausted youkai. "You have done so well, my friends." She ran her hands down both of their faces, getting hums of gratitude that my own true self wished to receive as she held me absent this humanoid form. "They mustn't accompany us, they're exhausted." She smiled fondly as the dragons lied their heads on her lap and found comfort from her touch.

"They will not," I assured her, opening the package Jaken retrieved from the depths of my castle as she stood in front of me. "This was something I planned to give you when you completed your training. It will protect you in battle and keep you safe should you ever travel through these lands alone," I dismissed her widened eyes, turning away from them after handing her a chest plate made of the same metal across my abdomen accompanied with a red and white battle kimono, the twelve crests of my family origin gracing the sleeves and left shoulder – matching my own. Given to any woman would mean that she was mine and would be mine alone forever.

I glanced over my shoulder and found eyes widened and her lips parted in wonder as she unfolded the robe. "T-this is your family's crest, Sesshomaru-sama. I am unable to wear this," she whispered, her hands running over the silk fondly despite her words. She bowed her head respectfully, in a way I had expressed my disdain for, and offered it to me like a common peasant. My eyes narrowed.

Claws came to her shoulders, dipping the white haori of a provincial girl from her shoulders in favor of one that better suited her snow and roses skin. "You are the only woman dignified enough to wear this," I mumbled as fingers graced her skin, wrapping the silk around her slight shoulders before tying it tightly across her rounded chest. I stared at her plainly, wearing the finest silk of my lands, and found that even the robes of my clan paled in comparison to her minute smile.

_Maddening._

"I shall leave you to dress," I bowed respectfully as she blushed and covered herself, my mind swimming with desire as she stood justly mine in that tent – yet was still unmarked by my fangs, still absent my youki flowing through her veins, giving her immortality.

"Where's Kagome?" Inuyasha barked, his brigade made of the pregnant slayer, the monk, and his wench came to the field as commotion was made from the shouting youkai, preparing for departure. Tetsusaiga would be of great use against the grunts – I needed the hanyou beside Kaji, the dragon, and myself in this battle.

"We are departing for the eastern lands at sundown, Inuyasha. Prepare your woman for battle," I growled, staring at him curiously as he scoffed at me and nudged the priestess fondly. He openly expressed his love for a human, yet I could not even think the words toward the woman undressing in my tent not ten paces from where we stood now.

So was Inuyasha weak? My eyes stared upon him in his adolescence, immortal as he would always be with strength in his stature. His youki had strengthened after the taking of his true mate and flowed around her adoringly. Could I call him weak when he had never fallen to my hand, and stood the only youkai ever to do so? Could I call him weak when he had everything I wanted and the courage to take it without regret? "Tell me Inuyasha, are you weakened by your half-breed blood?" I wondered, my eyes narrowing as his aura became red.

"Wanna find out for yourself?" He grinned, cracking his knuckles, ever ready for battle. I did not know if he was simply stubborn or arrogant…but my half-brother was everything that a youkai could be without the pure blood in his veins. _Strong of heart and mind…but foolish_. He would not be foolish…had I taken him in after father's passing_. Perhaps_, I wondered as I stared at the glaring hanyou, _if I would have been a brother to you I would have never found you weak._

"Children," the Miko's voice grumbled behind us as she came from the confines of my tent. My eyes widened as she smiled at me and Inuyasha, crossing her arms in the kimono made only for the lady of the west before coming to stand beside me with a playful grimace on her features. "Must you always fight when I'm not here to keep you in check?"

"Keh, he started it. Calling me a weak half-breed," Inuyasha complained, his eyes torn from her as mine could not be.

"I asked if you were weak, Inuyasha. I did not say that you were," I corrected, my eyes unable to leave her.

My claws ran down the long sleeves, touching the silk already soaked with her warmth and scratched across the untainted armor that curved perfectly with her body. Her legs were covered with the same skin-tight fabric the slayer wore in battle and her feet bore coverings much like my own. She truly looked like a warrior maiden of my lands: she would be stunning as she danced through the bloodshed, strong as she mourned the loss of wasted life by her hand as it was to do so in her nature, and infinitely wise as she stared into my eyes and accepted everything that she had to be – everything she was now. "It suits you, Miko," I managed to finally speak when her eyebrow rose and she wrapped her arms around her middle self-consciously. I stood beside her after she nodded, blushing from the stares – human and youkai alike – and tied the sash I had kept in her absence around her waist. "Perfect," I mumbled, unable to contain the praise as she slid Tsukiuta into place below the red fabric.

The slayer smiled at the miko as Inuyasha continued to glare at me without knowing the real meaning to question. I turned away from Kagome so that my lips would not touch her flesh, exposing me to the armies, and found myself back in the confused stare of Inuyasha. Regret filled me as I thought of the youkai he could have been had I not hated my father for giving him life, but a woman pulled me and the hanyou and our thoughts. "Kagome, what should we bring?" The slayer asked and all eyes turned on her, even my own. I could smell the child within her, sense the life growing in her womb, yet she believed she was able to battle?

The miko shared my thoughts as if they were her own. "Sango you are not going into battle, I won't allow it. You are Miroku will protect the village should anything pass through the barrier while we are away." She spoke to her companions as I had spoken to my armies, her words the command that they would follow unless they wished to disobey her strength.

"You won't _allow_ it?" The slayer raged, her hands coming to fists at her sides, ready to strike the woman that now stood partly behind me. "Since when do you have say on matters of my life? Naraku has my brother, Kagome!" She thundered, fighting the protective arms of her lover that had wrapped around the skin above the child.

"Which would you rather have Sango, a brother that's already dead or the child from the man you love?" She spoke so evenly, as I would should one of my companions raise their voice to me, silencing the rage in the woman's chocolate eyes.

"H-how could you even say that?" The woman whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks until the miko moved to wrap her in an embrace worthy of sisterhood, soothing the whimpers from her lips. So that mindless human child beside Naraku was her brother, and she sought vengeance for his life. Yet that boy possessed a shard of the sacred jewel the last time we encountered each other and he tried to kill my Rin. Without it the jewel would not be complete. My eyes turned on the miko, narrowing. Would she be capable of taking the boy's life to complete the jewel?

I knew the answer as she spoke to the slayer.

"Scarifies must be made, sister. I have given everything to protect the jewel and I would do it a thousand times over, should it mean none of you would be hurt. So please, my dear sister, see reason." The miko beseeched the already calming woman and smiled when she saw resolve in her teary stare. I had not seen her departure in that way, only as a nuisance because it required me to leave my lands to come find her. Yet it had been entirely selfless. The slayer nodded and rested against the monk, her fingers curling around his in a way I wish mine could in the light of the day around hers.

Humans…they would always bear emotion I could not understand, but would cherish should it come from her.

Once she had released the slayer she turned her sights on my idiot half-brother and his wench, speaking lowly to them with uncertainty in her eyes. "I've already got my reserves seeing you into battle as well, Kikyo."

I had never seen an aura turn black so quickly, so much like Inuyasha's would. I smirked as she spoke coldly to my miko, proving her worth as her mate would have. "I assure you I am just as able as any youkai to fight against-"

She bit her lip, shaking her head at the woman whose aura had calmed when peace rested upon Kagome's face. "My worry is not based on your ability, but because you are the only one after me that can keep this village safe, protect the jewel, and maintain the barrier around the god pool…in the event of my death."

"You believe that I will allow you to die, woman?" My eyes flashed red as she stared up at me with wide blue pools of fear when my claws gripped flesh, raising her from the ground as words became snarls and the youkai shifted inside of me. "You will not be taken from me by anything – certainly not something as trivial as death, so put it out of mind and focus on slaying the enemy." I dropped her to the ground again, turning away from her as anger raged through me and I fought to calm the beast. Talk of her death sent him into a frenzied panic, and in such a situation, I hadn't the slightest idea how to maintain aloofness. I could not lose her.

Yet we were to march into battle, and it would become a very real possibility.

I refused to let that pathetic hanyou ruin her life any longer just as she refused to remain silent, her only purpose being guardian to my village. Unconsciously, I had leaned into her touch as she stood beside me after addressing her friends, telling them we would set off at sundown as we had planned. I stared down at her, glaring at the jewel. We would see no more death because of it after this day. She would no longer be tied to it, life depending on how well she was able to sustain its safety, and at last she could come with me...away from the rest of the world because she was born to stand beside me, born to be the other half of me, and I was born for her. It only took me so long to realize my youkai was not weakening me with lust, but strengthening me with purpose.

"I must address the people, Sesshomaru-sama," She blushed as I admired her, my claws running down her hips. "Perhaps you should go to Rin," She suggested as my lips inched closer to hers and realization of the eyes upon us gave me strength to nod once, press my lips to her forehead, swirling in her summer rain as it cascaded around me before we parted. Rin came into my sights as I entered the village in front of the Miko.

"Rin," I beckoned, getting her attention as she came to my side and wrapped her tiny hand in mine. We walked away from the curious fox holding his mother in his arms as she whispered of her parting to him, and I stared down at the innocent girl smiling beside me. "We are leaving this night, Rin, and might not come back for some time. You are to stay with fox, the monk and the slayer until Kagome and I return."

Her lip quivered and I smelled tears before my eyes could behold them. This human girl had stood beside me through everything that should have killed any regular human, yet she cried because I simply planned to leave her behind? She stared up at me with frightened eyes. "W-will you return to me, Sesshomaru-sama?" She mumbled as my hand cupped her cheek, I kneeled before her, and my eyes found hers. She stared at me curiously as I smiled at her for the first time since our travels had begun together – an action I learned from the caring woman not twenty paces behind me.

"When have I not returned to you Rin?" I asked, my expression even as she wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me to her tightly. I wrapped my arms around her as well, startling her before she giggled into the crook of my neck and I released her. "Now go find Jaken, he will guard you and should he not I will kill him," I spoke to the youkai standing beside the hut, narrowing my eyes at him over her shoulder before I stood again and patted her head.

"If I may, Sesshomaru-sama," she began, tugging on the sleeve of my kimono.

"Yes?"

Rin then smiled up at me, an action I had never grown accustomed to when given by humans - especially her. How was she, just like the miko, so comfortable around my terrible aura and why did it not bring anger to my demon, but joy? "Please bring Kagome-chan back safely, too."

I nodded, dismissing her before she went to run through the village, filling everything she passed with the joy of her laughter and song. I came to stand beside the woman that centered her demands and nodded toward her curious eyes as she spoke to the hanyou general of this village. Bringing Kagome home safe – I stared at her as she spoke like a true leader and took her hand in mine, warmth spreading through my flesh as she leaned into me with an unconscious smile on her lips – that was one thing I could promise the little girl running through the snow and the demon growling in pleasure within my chest.

As Kaji appeared in front of the armies with the dragon I still did not trust, I took her hand in mine and kneeled before her. My voice was light with jest and my lips smirked minutely at her as her eyes narrowed for she had thought something else of my position before her. "Do not flatter yourself, Miko."

* * *

He took my hand and slung me across his back, not showing any emotion in his face as I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, spreading my shield around the both of us in the action. I had, foolishly, thought he was going to confess the emotion I felt coming from his youkai to me before we marched into battle – for it was a very real possibility that one of us could die. As I sighed against him and pressed my face into the crook of his neck, his smirk turned to a razor sharp grin that hardened my stomach. "You'd better hold on," he warned, his wild eyes staring in front of us as his lips parted and the blackness of his youki swallowed us whole. I shut my eyes, letting the darkness lick my skin seductively before I felt the warm skin below my fingers start to vanish.

His calm eyes flashed red and his aura changed from passive blue to deep red, his face extended and paled, and his body shuddered as he unleashed the youki held deep inside of himself. I gripped the fur of his shoulders for my life as I slid from his humanoid back when he transformed below me, showing me the true form of the greatest youkai in all of Japan. He snarled to the skies as he let himself free, feeling the winter's breeze on his fur for the first time since we had reunited, but he was not alone in the act. The Inu-youkai on the ground began to shift below us, their forms much smaller than his, but their howls just as powerful and furious.

I smiled softly when his aura became a calm mixture of red and blue wind and perched myself on his massive back cautiously, letting the wind whip through my hair as the phoenix's came to fly beside us, massive and red with golden eyes. We traveled through the clouds almost so fast that I felt like I was flying. His red eyes stole a glance at me as I laughed blissfully, pressing my face into his silky fur, my fingers running through it lovingly to earn myself a growl of satisfaction from his chest. I blushed when he stared up at me curiously, obviously sensing the lust inside of me.

I pressed my lips to his head, whispering in his massive ear lowly – so the blue and purple dragons around us could not hear. "You are quite adorable this way, Sesshomaru-sama," I whispered, grinning when the same growl turned annoyed and his eyes narrowed. "I always wanted to do this," I confessed, letting body relax against his as he traveled through the lands, unseen above the clouds and hidden by my barrier. I felt as though we were truly free, not the slaves we were expected to be as the clouds drifted passed us quickly and he hummed against my hand that had ran down his shoulder, spreading my warmth to his most exposed form. I stared in wonder at the armies of colorful fire breathing dragons that lit up the sky, dancing through the wind with the bright red phoenix clan and found myself wishing for my own sense of freedom – freedom from the jewel hanging lowly around my neck. How I wished that one day I could walk through the forest without looking over my shoulder, without putting a barrier around myself.

But after tomorrow would I truly be freed of the Jewel of Four Souls?

As if to pull me from my thoughts, Sesshomaru nuzzled my hand hanging over his left side with his giant nose, question in his red eyes and I remembered my words. I smiled and turned on my stomach, fingers curling through his white fur. "I've always wanted to see you as your true self, so freed from earthly expectation." I sighed against him, letting my eyes close as he made a gentle sound that was far from a whimper but not quite a growl that I took as a sign of affection for the touch I gave. I thought back to days ago, training with the great youkai, and found my words swirling in the air around us.

"_Why have I not seen you in your true form since you've been back_?" I had wondered, leaning against him as we sat in the icy meadow and rested. His eyes had narrowed and his voice became cold.

"_Because I am a monster and women like you should never have to see a monster in its true form_," he had run his claws down my cheek with a frown on his face. "_You would not like what you saw, should I show you my true nature, Miko."_ But I couldn't understand why – I had seen him in his true form before and always ended up fascinated by it, not terrified or repulsed. How could he even think I wouldn't like him this way? He was so massive, so terrifying…to everyone that didn't know how gentle his soul really was, how misunderstood he was.

"You were wrong, Sesshomaru-sama," I smiled as I whispered into his ear and wrapped my arms around him lovingly. "I like you this way."

When his eye widened something began to creep into my skin, dipping into my very soul and I gasped loudly as I felt him everywhere around me, his youki mingled with my energy until I was not looking through my eyes, but those of the most powerful youkai of Japan. I could feel the earth below my body, pulling me to it but suspending us in the air at the same time. I could taste the wind on my tongue like the sweetest tea of winter and shuddered at its chill. My head rested upon his as a voice, the same voice from Tsukiuta, entered my mind speaking so softly I almost didn't recognize it at the man below me. His youkai wrapped around my shoulders, kissing my cheeks tenderly as Sesshomaru and I became connected in a way I never thought possible. "W-what is this?" I whispered, my fingers running through his soft fur as we glided smoothly above the gray clouds of billowing cotton candy against my face.

_This is the connection between us that allows you and I to see through each other's eyes and minds when in our true forms. As you are your true self when you find happiness I am my true self as I fly thought the skies. You can feel my life in your grasp just as I can feel yours_.

I found my face burrowed in his shoulder blade, my fingers stretched out to either side of him, but not even coming close to wrapping around his enormous form. The darkness of his youkai wrapped around me, warming my skin as the cold air bit it. I pressed a kiss to his neck, holding him close to me as he hummed in appreciation despite the curious Inu-youkai gazing over at us hatefully in the moon lit night. I put them out of my mind and let my own aura embrace him, expressing everything I couldn't in words. Would I lose him to this battle? Would I be taken from him, though I hadn't had the chance yet to tell him how I felt? "I can feel you," I whispered, tears gathering in my eyes as the sweet rhythm of his heart sunk into mine and the world below us faded into black.

_And I you_. His voice assured, turning toward the looming mountains of the east. _I feel you this way always._ He nuzzled my hand with his massive nose, shutting his eyes as the warmth of my touch pierced his cold front.

I sat up and pressed my hand to his head, smiling as I watched the clouds in front of us part and reached my hand down to touch the fresh snow on the rocky slopes at the very end of the northern mountains. "We should travel this way more often," I mumbled as his massive eye turned to make sure I hadn't fallen. The feeling of soaring through the clouds with the man I had found myself in was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life, right next to what had happened only hours ago in the hot springs. I ran my hands down his face, coming to rest just above his ear. I wondered, absentmindedly, what part of him I was actually touching as he shut his giant eyes peacefully, his youki holding me closer.

I lay down on his wide back, my face toward the heavens as we shared these moments together as though they were sacred. "What do you think about when you're up here?" I wondered, glancing down at his jagged purple marks over my shoulder.

_Everything I am unable to speak when I am in the form you know_. His voice was even as always in my mind, letting me shut my eyes and see his warm eyes on mine, betraying the ice in his tone. _But when I find a moment of peace my thoughts are on you_.

I gasped as his memories flooded through my mind, the first night he had come across me in the east being the first of them all. I saw myself, red-eyed and still crying in the hot spring in his gaze. He had stared at me before making himself known, taking in my every curve as he did now. I had not imagined the redness across his cheeks as he looked at my water stained breasts.

_I have thought of no one else from that moment. _He confessed to me, opening himself up vulnerably as his aura flared wildly around the purple miasma coating the protection I'd placed around each of the youkai under Kaji, Raijukin, and Sesshomaru's command. I looked away from the night sky coated in purple mist toward the youkai with his eyes narrowed.

"I haven't either," I admitted, showing him the memory of our first kiss, all of the nights I spent crying at the shrine as I thought, _as I knew_, I would never see him again yet desperately wished to. I showed him my fear, but most of everything I showed him the love my heart held for him, and before we came below the clouds into the eastern lands his eyes widened and he stared up at me like I was crazy until I shut my eyes and his youkai stiffened in shock. I let the warmth of my soul out, leaving myself bare for him to take or leave.

_Kagome- _

"Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted from the head of the fleet, holding Kikyo close as Kilala traveled through the skies. I felt like growling along with Sesshomaru at the hanyou for interrupting whatever he was about to say to me with the use of my name. With a nod of his giant head and a bark that echoed around the waves of my barrier, I shut my eyes and stood upon the massive youkai's back, letting the energy of the moon flood through me, strengthening the youki that had wrapped around the hidden priestess of my soul. My arms rose, waving through the clouds as electricity shot from my fingertips, lighting the dragon filled night sky. The air that came through my nose passed through every part of my body as my feet moved in time with my hands, pushing and pulling the fire of this foreign connection like the waves of the sea that beat upon the black sand of the eastern shores.

With eyes upon me as I flexed this new muscle, expanding Sesshomaru's youkai and pulling back the priestess passed down to me from generations through my family, I lit the sky with white fire that purified the black miasma around the armies and the barrier fell. My eyes slid open to find that I stood tall against him, the heat still coming from my hands and swirling around me as we broke through the barrier Naraku placed over the eastern lands – a barrier meant to keep me out. If he was afraid of the schoolgirl that had traveled these forests so long ago that now gazed upon the dying forests from within the special place that I had locked her away, he would cower away from the woman I had become. I prized the pure wind that blew across me and the youkai of all the clans, staining me with its sweet scent of winter before I sat down again, bringing the fire back in place around my aura, and found the lord of the west smiling fondly up at me.

I ran my hand across his cheek, feeling the waves of poison roll off of the static around my own barrier now and pressed my lips to his fur. "He will not get away from us this time," I spoke with conviction to all of the men staring at me with widened eyes. "Continue on, we'll rest at dawn."

But as the men looked away dejectedly, I could still feel his lust racing through my veins when his eyes fell to me, taste his emotion on my tongue and see this world through his wise eyes - this world that had become cold and blackened with poison and hatred stared back at me with its melancholy stare of wretchedness. It begged for life again. _This blackness will end, the poison Naraku has dripped across these lands will never see the light of the sun again, and I_, I stared down at the youkai with fond eyes, shutting them as the center of the world came into focus beneath my breast, the dark youki swirling around the light priestess harmoniously as the found love and serenity in a single embrace, _I will stand beside you as enemy takes its last breath, and then until the day I die._

_Forever._ His voice promised as my eyes shut, electric waves swallowing us whole in my mind, and my spirit succumbed to that world - finding grace and happiness in his embrace of slumber.

But dawn had taken such peace from me, and I found myself in purple marked arms as eyes opened and descent toward the ground was made. He gazed down at me as my heartbeat quickened and pressed lips to my forehead, his voice low as the youkai set up temporary camp around us. "Sleep," he commanded, cradling me in his arms as the sun began to rise.

With dust in my vision and sleep on my lips I nodded, falling against him as his youki wrapped around me, brining warmth no blanket ever could. The last noise across my mind was the sound of his chuckle as I pressed my lips to his neck and fell into unconsciousness, but all too soon the foreign sound of a crackling fire had my back rigid and I rose, my sword extended and ready to bring death to whatever intruded on my dreams, only to find Sesshomaru standing at the mouth of the tent, warmth in his eyes as he carried in more firewood – his humanoid form surprising me, even though it shouldn't have. "Sorry," I mumbled as I sheathed the sword, relaxing as his youki wrapped around me comfortingly. "Where are we?" I asked as he wrapped a fur blanket around my shoulders and sat beside me.

"We are just outside of the village you resided in with Inuyasha," he responded, staring into the flames as he handed me a cup of warmed tea. "You have no need for worry, Miko, Inuyasha's woman has set up a barrier around us. Nothing shall harm you," I could hear the double meaning in his words, even in my half-asleep stupor. He meant nothing would harm me, not only because of Kikyo, but because we both knew he would never let anything in this world take me from his side. He untied my armor with one simple movement and I relaxed against the ground, breathing in deeply, taking in the air's chill.

I pressed my hand to his face, oddly missing the way it looked in its true form, and smiled as I traced his markings, swept across the moon on his forehead until my fingers finally found place above his heart. "Does my form not frighten you, with the face so much like that of something from your human nightmares?" He almost purred against my wrist as he brought my hand to his cheek again, pressing his mouth to my skin as I shook my head, a small smile on my lips in the firelight.

"My only fear is that one day soon," I mumbled, looking away as unexpected tears gathered in my eyes and his hair fell around us in a curtain of silver water when he smelled them. Self-consciousness tore my chest open from the inside as he held me close and waited for response. "I won't be able to see you – in any form."

His own hand ran down my cheek, moving my jaw with unbreakable force until I stared into his hard eyes, my own swimming with guilt. "You believe me able to leave you once we defeat Naraku," he seemed to chuckle, not growl or question, and his aura wasn't black like I thought it would be but red and filled with fire just as mine was. "Perhaps I should prove myself to you," he ghosted across my neck, licking the fire burning across my skin.

I panted and gripped his kimono, moaning into his ear as his hard length pressed between my legs that tightened when he growled possessively, whispering a lowly, a primal voice, as he took my lips in his again. "_Mine_."

_His? _

As much as I wanted to blush and stammer a thousand questions up at him, my throat only let me moan lustily at the noise of his rough snarl, groan as his lips dominated me, and sigh as his claws ran down my exposed skin, tracing my hips and daring to dip just a little lower. His eyes opened only to focus his attention on the white garment around my shoulders, devouring me whole in the kimono that was meant for his mate. Was that why he had given it to me? Had he already considered me to be his and his alone? …Wasn't I?

My eyes shut as his hands slid over my body, replacing the cool silk with the warmth of his skin and the intensity of his lips. My hips of their own accord rolled upward, my hands wrapped around his neck, and he smirked against the hollow of my ear as his teeth bit down. He began at my chest, kissing down my body slowly – agonizingly so – and his lips lingered at each spot like he was savoring the taste of my skin.

I felt the animal inside, the distant youki injected into my soul, rising with each touch, with each kiss, and I couldn't keep up the slowness much longer. I needed him – I needed to feel complete at last - my soul craved his with such fervor that the cold air of winter felt like the hottest flame of the underworld, torturing me with its desire.

His eyes flashed with a darkness that I'd only seen when we'd get too close to this point. There was no turning back, and I didn't want to. He gripped my hips, brought me even closer to the pounding in his chest and the hardness between his legs, and pushed me into the soft blankets. My hands ran through his silvery locks, taking in his very uneven expression as I wrapped myself around him, my legs curling around his hips as our lips clashed and our tongues fought. He sat up and I moved with him, my wetness pressing against the head pressed against it through the thin fabric that separated us. I gasped as his manhood rubbed up against me slowly, eliciting primal purrs of desire from my chest as it slid through my pants and dipped across my clit.

My breathing came as uneven pants as he bit down on my neck, all the while his hands traveled down my chest, toyed with my hardened nipples, and gripped the member standing at attention before me. I blushed, feeling my chest tighten as he pressed his lips to my neck and his movements slowed significantly as fingers untied my obi and lowered my hakama. My fingers did the same with his sculpted chest, touching the strong muscles and purple marks, getting a hiss of pleasure from his lips and a flash of red in his eyes as they boldly ran down his abdomen until they were caught and his forehead pressed to mine. He pressed me into the furs again, his eyes burning me from the inside out and pressed against my throbbing entrance. His hands caught mine and our chests touched, my steady breathing becoming erratic as he lowered his hakama and my hands pushed the kimono from his shoulders. "I can feel your desire," he whispered as lips moved to my neck and his tongue flicked across my ear, making my entire body shudder with desire that already dripped across his hardness. "Could you ever love a youkai as evil as I, Miko?"

My hands touched his face tenderly, my heart swelling as he asked me like I ever had a choice in the matter. He spoke, for the first time since I'd ever known him, of an emotion he claimed he would never feel. But, my choice in love had been taken from me…the moment I looked into those tortured eyes and wanted to know every secret, wanted to feel every emotion, wanted to see every smile. My choice had always been Sesshomaru – and it hadn't changed. "Y-yes," I whispered against his lips, shutting my eyes when his widened.

As if only to tear my heart from my bare chest, the moment his lips pressed to mine something wrapped its slimy, putrid fingers around my barrier, tugging and pulling it until I winced in pain – a pain that developed in my mind as the claws of this beast racked across the invisible shield. "Are you injured?" he wondered as I gripped my head and shut my eyes tightly, rolling onto my stomach as the tremors wracked my aura. His claws ran down my sides as the noise, the screaming I could hear outside…became unbearable; like a thousand crows screeching into the night all at once, tearing through Kikyo's barrier as I erected one more powerful. I stood in the tent, my kimono around my shoulders as my hands rose and the wind around us stilled. The screeching came to a definite end as I stood with my arms holding the barrier in place before it wrapped around every youkai in this field.

"He's here," I looked down at the now clothed youkai's golden eyes and found myself wishing we were anywhere but here, and that he wasn't putting on his armor. But I could feel the evil around the circle of youkai in my protection. Naraku – I could taste his rotting corpse on my tongue as his claws slammed uselessly against my barrier. "S-Sesshomaru-"

"Later," he barked, making me jump as he slung on his armor and tied it securely to his chest. He stared at me – the warmth gone from those depths – and looked away as I blushed and covered myself self-consciously. He stood before me as my eyes fell to the ground and placed his claw under my chin, smirking as his lips pressed to mine. "I promise you that when this battle is over we shall go to a place where _nothing_ can disturb us. Dress, I will wait for you outside."

He walked away as my face turned red and my heart raced in my chest, but despite his words there was still something creeping across my skin, trying to dip into my soul and remove it. I slung the royal robes over my shoulders and tied the dark ashen metal to my chest snugly. Tsukiuta pulsed at my waist, ready to see blood shed this morning. I stood, concentrating my energy to flow through the pools of light swirling around through my soul until my eyes and nerves calmed, the wind around me pushed and pulled the waves of youki and spiritual energy, until finally I let the loving, emotion girl hide away in my heart. The tent flaps howled in the unnatural breeze as I exited and saw that nature was in a battle of its own around these eastern lands. The sky was black and cracked with white fire, the trees shuddered in the icy rain that fell upon the lands, but my eyes focused on my red eyed brethren. A deep purple haze coated the invisible shield around us, a fog that transformed half a dozen youkai around me into their true forms with his blackness.

Naraku was here. I could feel him. We all could.

Sesshomaru nodded when I came to my place at his side, sadness on my face as I watched the trees melt from the poison and the grass turn black with malice. We stood on the frontline, rain pelting down on our weary bodies as we stared at the thousand strong youkai in the lightning sky – the armies that could rival those of the underworld. I glanced up at Sesshomaru, gripping the hilt of my blade, and he spoke words I would never forget. "Come back to me alive, woman. I will not accept anything less."

"I will," I promised, smiling up at him. We stepped forward so silently I couldn't even hear my own heart pounding in my ears like it should have been.

I flicked my sword from its sheath, hot electricity dripping from the blade and everything started to flow into its deadly place very quickly. The youkai thundering above us screeched into the night as they had before, descending in waves of hundreds of hungry monsters of the night. It was in that very howl of battle that Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed and his clawed hand shoved me back with enough force to send me hurling through the air, my only salvation seeming to be the ground below as the youkai of the sky connected with our forces, blood staining the dirt below us as many of them took their final breaths. Another set of claws - a set I had not expected - caught me as my body raced through the air, suspended only by the energy in Tsukiuta that had made my entire body glow from Sesshomaru's youki mixing with my spirit. "I've got ya Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted over the clashing steel, slinging me onto his back as he wielded Tetsusaiga, striking down hundreds in a single blow of the wind that scarred the earth. I watched with widened eyes as fire and electricity lit battle field the man I loved fought in.

The dragons of the east howled fire at the beasts, decimating their defense as the youkai fell to the ground in ash; the mighty phoenixes, led by a furious Kaji, spat white hot fire from their beaks, and the merciless Inu-youkai devoured the grunts earthly bodies whole, their poison tongues dripping death across the black soil of their corpses around the castle of the east. I could feel their energy as my kimono whipped through the wind beside Kikyo. My eyes closed and lips parted from the malevolence of the singular black aura raging around the battlefield. The ground shook from the force of the youkai pillowing from the sky, sheiks of a thousand warriors wracking my mind as blood stained the ground and the sky split, rain washing away the sound of death and agony. So much death. So much loss…all for one hanyou.

From my place above the carnage I watched while I shot arrows that slayed dozens as our soldier's slayed the never ending youkai expertly. Blood and dirt stained their flawless skin and regional battle kimonos, but their efforts seemed in vain as I watched hundreds slain and thousands pouring from the skies and the crackled earth before the castle. To help them was to find the source. With the sharpened eyes of an archer, I scanned the field as Kikyo blew their offenses to oblivion with her sacred arrows. The ground was split just as the sky was, as if the youkai were traveling from the depths of the underworld and through the cosmos to defend Naraku in this bloody battlefield. I shut my eyes and let their energy swirl on my tongue, so black and poisonous, just like Naraku, but...artificially so.

With trembling blood-soaked hands and sweat upon my creased brow, I raised my energy to form a blockade in the night sky, purifying the source from above as lightning radiated through me and gave me my vantage point. The fire shot through my fingertips, sliced the enemies in two, and gave me advantage at last. "Sesshomaru," I shouted down at the battling man as I held my aura firmly over the squealing enemy in the sky, begging for mercy as my fire turned them to ash.

The mighty lord of the west slashed his sword through his enemy, severing head from its twitching corpse as blood splattered across his front and his red eyes calmed. He jumped beside me, aiding Kikyo against the grunts that had found us here. He pushed me behind him within the small barrier Kikyo held around us, staring questionably at my raised, trembling arms. "These youkai aren't doing this willingly, Naraku has somehow brainwashed them to fight for his armies. Their evil is injected – fake."

His eyes widened as realization of what I was doing, and how much it helped, hit his mind. I held the thousand strong forces from the sky in my hands when he nodded his head once, speaking quickly before he spun and cut the protruding youkai tearing at our barrier in half. "He is using the deep magic from the mainland. Be cautious, Miko, the emperor of those lands has an aura far blacker than that of the hanyou and strength to rival a thousand of these armies. Find Naraku and the useless bloodshed will end. Can you sense him?"

"I can try," I panted as the weight pressed against my shield now, my knees shaking from the pressure of their struggling and useless fight. _No. I have to be strong. I have to keep him safe…_ "Go," I shouted over the roar as his eyes became conflicted and his hand rested on my hip. "The men need you. Kikyo and I have got the skies; you take care of the ground!"

His conflicted eyes darkened before he pressed his lips to my forehead and vanished from my sight, giving me hope that I had the strength to finish this fight and end all of this suffering and pain. "Kikyo, I need you to help me hold the skies," I gasped as their forces doubled and I fell to the ground, my arms still raised and trembling. I held them, but only just. We only had this window of time, and I wasn't going to waste it. We needed the advantage. "Use your energy to help reinforce my barrier! I need to find Naraku without being sensed and you're the only person that can hold it!"

She nodded at the severity in my tone, dropped her bow without question, and fell to her knees, eyes seeing the black energy in my hands. She lifted the weight off of me in the very moment that I shut my eyes and fell into the world beyond our own, a world of mist and shadow, ruled by energy and light. My blue eyes opened to the shadowed world and I watched the auras around me. Kikyo's, bright and purple, the youkai she held black in the warring night, and even Sesshomaru's deep blue enthused spirit, comfortable where he belonged in battle. My own spirit, white against the gray of this world weaved through the battlefield and crossed into the castle cautiously. The screeching from the other worldly portals raked my mind and tore through my calm. I could feel him here, he was just up ahead. I peered around the corner of the castle in my hidden state and found his black aura, manipulating the warriors with injected wickedness. He was hiding from the lord of the west with Kagura and his other reincarnations – I would recognize their blank auras in this world or my own. They were empty and unmistakable.

With a deep breath and a map of the palace in my mind, I came back to the fight, taking the weight from Kikyo before she collapsed. She wasn't strong enough to hold them – a few had broken through and one that had went right for my lord of the west. I repositioned my feet and stood, bearing my teeth as the youki took over and changed my eyes red, twisted my collected mind and sent it into a rage, gave me his definite strength, and eliminated the coward going for his back. His golden eyes turned toward me as his poison claws tore through the enemy in front of him, gratitude lurking passed them.

"What a twisted tale of love," A deep voice rang over the field when my hand gripped the pulsating, white blade at my side. The armies faded into dust, like they were never there, and many of our own stood injured – and fallen – in the field as Naraku hovered over Raijukin's castle. From whichever side I looked at the bloodshed, I only saw unnecessary death and destruction. "Sesshomaru, I never imaged you to be so weak that you would fall in love with a mere priestess from the northern lands – lands your clans have such a hateful history with."

"Hold your tongue, hanyou," he barked as his eyes flashed red with fury for being addressed so improperly – by a hanyou, no less. "You should beg that _mere priestess_ for mercy before she removes your head and shoves it on a spike to rot," I glared at the hanyou that had ruined my life as Sesshomaru spoke with such conviction. My soul pulsed, my muscles rippled…and he noticed.

Naraku chuckled and narrowed his eyes at me where I stood beside Inuyasha and Kikyo on the hillside. "Perhaps I am wrong, Kagome. You have become a fully realized priestess, but no matter," he smiled wickedly, sending chills down my spine and fear across my face. "You won't be a problem for me for much longer, wench."

He raised his arms as a foreign shield wrapped around his still-broken body, resurrecting the fallen youkai of his armies with roars of rage and clashing steel before sharp tentacles pierced through the veil and came directly for me faster than I had time to react. The world stopped as I watched a flash of white light in front of the black daggers seeking purchase on my skin.

But no magic in this world would ever make him faster than the man looking up at the battle with worried eyes and a snarl on his lips as he jumped in front of the woman he cared for and a dozen razor sharp pins shoved through his immortal flesh. My eyes widened as he hung suspended in the air with a strangled gurgle of a growl on his lips before his red eyes flashed unevenly. Golden orbs look at me, a smirk across his lips as he reached for me with extended claws and warm golden eyes. The hanyou holding him twisted the tentacles, strangling the youkai of my heart in his grip until those golden depths closed.

And they did not reopen.

"_No_." My voice wasn't even that of a broken whisper as his body fell through the sky, still and unmoving. The youki was strong inside of me as disbelief shredded through my still heart, no longer beating because his wasn't either. Something snapped inside of me as I watched his corpse hit the floor, staining his moon with mud and blood from the battle that had ceased raging the moment he jumped. "NO!" We shouted together, the youkai in sync with the priestess as my body lifted from the ground, my eyes glowing red as lightning crackled on my fingertips and my lip curled over my sharpened teeth.

"You've hurt me for the last time, Naraku," I shouted over the stunned silence, the wind rolling in waves of crackling fire around me. His eyes widened as Sesshomaru's energy, whatever was left of his love radiating through my heart, unleashed from my fingertips as a scream of rage echoed off of the trees. It pierced the barrier with ease, slicing him in two. His blood stained my hands as I went for the kill, my mind set only on revenge: revenge for the fallen man below us.

He chuckled and spilled miasma from the broken pieces of his barrier, smirking at me as my eyes flashed blue again and haze crept up on my vision. I fell to Sesshomaru's side, snarling up at the hanyou whose tentacles went to absorb his still-mighty demonic aura that wrapped around me tenderly. His youkai was still alive within this broken vessel – it kissed my cheeks and spread warmth through my limbs even as the form he took sprung tears to my eyes because of its stillness. "If you want him," I shrieked at the hanyou as the tentacles fought my now constructed barrier around the youkai of the west in my arms. "Try and claim him, _hanyou_!" I seethed, taking my sword in hand as my bow fell to the ground.

I pressed my lips to his forehead, my words whispers as the entire army stared – along with our common enemy. "It's my turn to save you, Sesshomaru-sama." I stood in front of his bloodied corpse, light already dripping from Tsukiuta as Naraku's teak eyes met mine. His body was deteriorating from mine and Sesshomaru's own brand of poison slowly, falling apart and weakening him, making his movement to absorb the youkai of the west desperate. He would not withstand another blast from Tsukiuta and he would perish for what he had to my love.

He grinned as electricity crackled around my blade, shifting the wind once more as he held Kagura close. He rose a deep red barrier from a scroll in a language I could not read around her feather and fell into her arms. It had to be the same magic paralyzing Sesshomaru's body. "Until we meet again, _Lady of the West_."

I threw my attack uselessly as he chuckled those words while he and his reincarnations escaped. The only thing that kept me here was the faint pull of Sesshomaru's youki – and the sight of my electric fire still eating him away. But I did not stay and watch the sky fade from purple to winter's gray as the rest of the cheering youkai had. I feel to my knees beside my love – who was not breathing. "Quickly, Kaji, I need a sword!" I barked the order as he would have, despite the fear of losing him forever racing through my chest.

"Here," Kaji whispered as he handed me a normal sword. "You plan to end his suffering?"

My eyes widened at the very suggestion of such a black thing, but I shook my head fiercely as tears dotted my cheeks. "I seek to end whatever threatens his life," I sliced open his chest at the spot of the poisonous black energy swirling inside of him and stuck my hand beneath his already rotting flesh. His eyes hadn't opened, his breathing hadn't restarted, and his heartbeat – my harmonious lifeline – did not beat as I searched in vain for the poison Naraku placed within his chest. My fingers, barely grazing his still heart, found a hard round sphere sticking from it, glowing a sinister burgundy amongst his blackened blood.

I healed the fatal cut as quickly as my fingers came across it, plucking out the seething stone and purifying the ancient magic of the mainland inside of the now calm gem before my sights turned back to the corpse of the man my heart still ached for as it stood still in my chest. "Step back, should you not wish to be purified," I warned the forlorn, mourning soldiers at his sides before my hands glowed white above him.

The open skin on his chest closed instantly, drawing all of the spilled blood back inside of him as my hand rested above his still heart, begging it to restart. _Please…_please _come back to me Sesshomaru._ "I'm not going to see you die," I whispered as my vision began to blur and his black youki strengthened around my shoulders where it held me close. The youkai of his spirit dipped below the cuts across his skin, healing every tear, every bruise that lie upon his pale flesh with my aide. I braced myself against his body, panting as my already spent energy sunk into his heart at last, eliciting one steady beat of the musical melody that fortified my soul. A smile came to my lips and I fell against him, a mighty growl echoing through the night as blackness consumed me.

**A/N:**

**FUCK I am so sorry this is late. It gave me serious trouble because I could see it all happening, but couldn't exactly write it out. Idk why haha. Anyway, hope you like it, next chapter is coming up soon! I'm already writing it lol.**

**Review!**

**-Panda**


	23. Chapter 24, continued

**A/N: So this really is an update, but it should have been uploaded with the last chapter like, OMG 6 months ago, (sorry again). **

**My life's been crazy these last 5 or 6 months. First, I was taking calls for Microsoft, then I was floor support for a team of newbies, then they bumped me up to supervisor…and then the campaign closed in Monterrey. So, basically, I found the perfect job and lost it within a three month span, got moved to fucking AT&T, then moved again to Hughesnet internet services and now I'm back to helping newbies again. (Crazy, I know…)**

**The depression and writers block are starting to lift, but until they do I'm seriously writing the most I can and calling it a day because it's not cool to not be able to express the awesomeness of Sesshomaru and Kagome's love properly. **

**SO Here is the missing part of Chapter 24. **

**Chapter Twenty-Four Continued….**

**SPOV, as Naraku is attacking. **

Without second thought my body, the youkai already bound to her forever, was flying through the air faster than Naraku's pathetic attack would ever be.

_Protect her. _

My eyes flashed red as I snarled at the tentacles spewing from his rancid shield, aimed right for her heart. _They will not touch my mate – Naraku will not have her._ My body felt no pain, so my mate would not be compromised by my inability to protect her. We would end senseless battle this night, under the harsh rain of winter's storm, and I would make her mine this night under the moonlight. The Miko's eyes widened, a scream passed her full lips as I stood in front of her, suspended in the air, waiting for his attack. Fire raged through my body as her shrieks became louder and ice saturated my black blood – she wept for me, and my youkai for her. My vision blurred as I stared down at my humanoid form, filled with his tentacles, and my youkai fell paralyzed to Naraku's poison.

_Save her. _

A snarl passed my lips as his eyes narrowed angrily. He laughed from within the depths of my mind, his venom rotting my flesh from the inside out. I turned toward her as he spoke, my hand reaching for her weakly as vision became gray. _I have moved to eliminate you, Sesshomaru…and the Miko will be next. _I hung limply in the air as my body began to shut down. She would not die. I would die before he touched her. But…as weak heart began to beat slower and fade faster, I reached for her tear stained face with a smile, of all things, crossing my blood tainted lips. I would perish contentedly for a thousand lifetimes having known her love that still filled my cold youkai, having felt her affectionate stare as I lie beside her in the night, having seen her light that was so beautiful it tempted nature to come alive again, having felt her touch across my immortal skin, and having tasted her lips.

_Die for her. _

The last beats of my weak heart faded and my body fell from his grasp, but not after giving him the poison from my aura, the tainted darkness my youkai bared. He seethed in rage, yet, I could not feel the sense of victory at having defeated him. Not as I watched her eyes widen and heard her scream echo through the night, begging me to open my eyes for her again, to not leave her side.

How I wished I could.

_Forgive me, my Kagome. _

I had thought that her light had left me, yet as I slammed onto the ground and felt my body come back to existence, I could feel her warmth surrounding my corpse. I could taste her scent on my tongue and feel her lips against mine. Maddening woman. Tempting me even in death. However, I could not feel resentment for such affection that seemed to stretch across time itself, but welcome it. It would make the nights and days of my afterlife bearable – even if it was illusion. I lie in a forest of light and smoke, night and day, evil and good, yet found no threat…and felt pain spread through my chest. Pain that was not from injury. Already I missed her smile. Already I missed her touch.

"Sesshomaru."

Eyes opened slowly and head turned toward familiar voice. He looked just as he did the night he left to save his human mate…the night I disowned him as my own family, the very night my half-brother was born. "Father."

"We haven't much time, my son," he spoke as I stood and turned my back to him. "We must speak."

Hatred, anger, the feeling of betrayal all washed away the despair of losing my mate. My chest raged with emotion as he spoke to me as if nothing had passed between us. As if he had not chosen to give everything he loved to Inuyasha instead of my mother or myself. As if he had not betrayed our lands and brought shame to our name. "I have nothing to say to the likes of you, traitor."

He snarled at me, and I smirked. "It is about the love you feel for the human Miko, Sesshomaru, not about what you think I have done."

Claws gripped his throat and red coated my eyes. He dared speak of my Kagome after betraying me, in turn betraying our lands, and our family? "She is none of your concern and she will never be."

He eyes that had gone black became soft and filled with pity. I did not need his pity. Claws clenched tighter, knowing that they were not doing any significant harm anyway. "I see so much of myself in you when I watch you beside her. You move when she does and your youkai sings for her touch. Youkai and humans are made to be together like Yin and Yang, life and death, love and hatred. You must not revoke the feelings you have for her, should you wish to find peace," His voice crumbled like the wind of the spring and he placed a hand on my shoulder. Indeed I did find myself with thoughts of her when she was not by my side, and nostalgia for her touch when she had gone. Kagome had always been the life in my death, the love lacing my hatred, and the light illuminating my darkness. It had only taken me too long to realize that.

"This is why you left Mother."

"Yes."

I turned to stare at the man I had not seen in almost three hundred years. He had not aged, as we did not. He had not taken on a more human form, yet behind him stood a woman with long black hair and a smile upon her lips. His human mate. "Your other half, as much as you despise it, will always be human, Sesshomaru. You shall only ever find peace when you take that half and bring it together with yours for the rest of your lifetime. She brings you the same peace my human mate does, as any human mate would a demon of status. You will not die this night, but it is a very real possibility that you will lose her," he stared at the white smoke around us, and a picture formed of a beautiful woman sobbing over my chest as she cut out the tainted artifact from my heart.

"I will never lose her," I spoke with such conviction that the very heavens rumbled like thunder upon the clouds in the vision she lived. "She is _mine_ and I am hers."

"Then do not let her go, my son."

Eyes turned back to the Daiyoukai of the West. His arm wrapped around the small waist of Inuyasha's mother. A smile grazed his lips. The same smile I felt my youkai give when I was with Kagome. My hatred melted away as he pressed his lips to her cheek and she looked at him with the same trust Kagome looked at me with. Happiness. My father was not weak, yet he stood beside a human mate in his honored afterlife – with peace and love surrounding him. "I understand now." I spoke, nodding before turning away from the sight of my father with his true mate, and stepping into the darkness of the bloodstained battlefield.

He had found peace in his afterlife…and I would keep mine until the day came when I too perished from this world. The vision of the Miko saving my life with the white light from her fingertips began to blur, and as her body fell against my still chest, blood-red eyes shot opened and a snarl of rage echoed through the night.

I would not lose her.

* * *

The last thing before the darkness that my eyes caught amongst the gray were two clear golden depths. They were so filled with worry. But I was so tired, and it was so dark before the fire within me began to burn and lead me through these faded gray shadows of the afterlife. I was in a forest of black and white. Bright light spread across a pool of crystal clear water under the pale crescent moon above. I couldn't see anything through the thick forest of black but the water stretched out in front of me that seemed to go on for miles and lifetimes. There was no pain in this darkness, only emptiness and a bleak sense of defeat that washed away the sensation of my broken body.

But...as I clenched my fist over my chest I felt pain and deep loss. His eyes...graying over and his beating heart still. I watched Sesshomaru die in my arms. Tears ran down my cheeks as my eyes roamed the tree lines, searching desperately for his face. Did he make it out of that field alive? Was my energy enough to save him? How had I ended up beside the water?

_Come into the light_, it commanding, kissing my exposed toes and tempting me into its strange warmth.

I stepped into the water and immediately heard shrieking in the forest around me. I looked down at the ripples in the water and gasped, holding my aura inside, keeping it from flaring across the full moon. It was me there in the water - but I didn't look like me. My body was limp, my skin paler than usual, and blood spilled out of my lips onto a white kimono. I was lying across his chest amongst the youkai from the battle. I swallowed the thickness in my throat and covered the tremble of my lips as I saw what I had tried to prevent. My Sesshomaru had not opened his eyes. I failed. He was…gone. I bent over as pain rippled my chest, the youki and chi from my spiritual powers wailing as the loss of the fuel to their fire sunk into my skin.

_Where am I? And...if I'm dead, why isn't he beside me?_

I gazed at our mangled corpses in the pool, and revulsion turned in my stomach. My skin was gray and blotched with dried blood; my hair was matted with mud, but it was my eyes that awoke me to my fate – I knew where I was the moment I saw them. The once blue and vivid pools of life had turned gray; my soul had left them, and I needed to get back in my body before it was too late– before the grasp of the afterlife took my soul away. I was in the place that every spirit went to before they said goodbye to their lives. This was the place of the Kami's, their final look at your life before they accepted you into the heavens.

But…my heart wrenched as I saw the man below me, bloodied and broken. He needed me… and I still needed him. I wasn't going to let the darkness take me away from him when we so needed each other – this couldn't be my time. The silence of the wintry place was broken as tears escaped my eyes and fell into the water, rippling the image. I saw a fair shade of a face, a distant memory of a smile that made my heart swell and thud unevenly – even now when it wasn't inside of me. This feeling...it was _him_. He was everything – the air in my lungs, the heavy thud in my heart…the light in this gray dream. The memories rushed to me, memories of every kiss, every touch and I knew that this place was not where I belonged. I wasn't ready to die; I wasn't ready to leave him. I turned and the tears rolling down my cheeks stopped dead in their tracks.

A smile lit my lips as pale skin met my eyes, along with a flash of gold as the man before me turned in the deep water, his lips curving upwards only slightly as his youkai eyes fell on me. He stood without human restraints before me, just as I did before him. He extended a claw, beckoning me forward with the warmth in his golden depths and painful confusion upon his brow. "_Kagome..."_ His voice was fuzzy and hazed, like he was panicking but the serenity on his face betrayed the sound as I dove into his embrace, crying against his bare chest. Were we to die this way? Saving each other from a fate we had fought so ardently to prevent upon the world? He pressed his lips to mine, ending the infinite questions in my mind. The image of our broken lives lie forgotten as he held me close, bringing my heartbeat once again to his ears. "_Come back to me… I cannot lose you."_

I opened my mouth to speak, but the moon above covered my naked skin, silencing every unspoken word about to leave my lips. I stepped closer to him, my hand meeting the spot above his heart in the now black water. The connection made from his electricity against mine pushed and pulled my spirit like the moon against the endless lake. "_Come back to me_." His voice held so much pain that my chest split in two as his lips pressed against mine so softly, beckoning me back to the light as the darkness of the moon swallowed me whole_. I'm right here, Sesshomaru_. My palm pressed to his cheek, calming the raging storm in his hard eyes as warm drops ran down his cheeks and onto my hand.

He pressed a kiss to my wrist and the dark waters began to swim around us, biting my skin until I was against his chest, yet he had not spoken – only stared at me with those eyes of torment. My heart raced as he faded away, gripping onto me desperately with his claws until his warm eyes faded. My blood turned cold as we lost the fire from our connection, but the water continued to rage around its only victim now and stirred up red waves as I fought the ocean of blood to stay with him. I couldn't leave him, not yet.

"_Come back to me, Kagome._" I could hear his voice in my ear, see the image of his golden eyes fading fast and my limbs couldn't move quick enough to reach the spot where he'd held me in the water. The world around me started to swallow the lake and I gasped as I fought to keep my head above the barren water.

I was not going to let Naraku win! Not after everything I'd done to stay with the youkai that filled half of my soul. The burgundy waves crashed over my head and with my last breath I reached out to the blurred vision of my love, begging him to take my hand and save me – like he had always done. Just as my fingertips graced over the hazed image of his smile when his lips pressed to my skin in the forest of yosei, the shell keeping my spirit in this uneasy world fell to pieces and I tumbled into the darkness of the afterlife, a scream on my lips as I shut my eyes and waited for the shadows to swallow me whole.

* * *

I carried her limp body in my arms as the rain beat down on the silent battlefield. I had woken with a roar of rage as I watched my beloved give me her energy, her life force for me. I clutched her tightly now, eyes red and wild as I watch her slipping away. The men around me wept acidic tears that stained the grass, poisoning it with their own sadness for her death. Every moment that passed made her steady heartbeat fade further away. Was she to die, saving my miserable existence? I pressed my face into her bloodstained hair, unsteady as the sweet memory of the many nights we spent together under these same clouded stars flashed through mind. The same nights that were most cherished in this youkai's thousand year old memory. She fit perfectly in my embrace. My heartbeat, so in time with hers, had also begun to fade and had now sought solace in her arms – but reassurance from those ocean eyes, the same that only grew warm for my youkai, did not come.

The sweet summer of her lips would never meet mine again under this night sky. The Miko, whose warmth had given me new life, was never again to walk this earth beside me.

_Father _I beseeched him as wet warmth ran down my stoic cheeks. I shed tears for this Miko and now… My claws clutched her cold flesh tighter. Her breaths became ragged, tired… as if she had already given in to the darkness of the other side. _Father, why was I to fall in love with her, if only to have her taken from me?_

_Don't leave me_, the youkai begged, rousing her aura with fire, begging her mercilessly to return to his heart and banish him from this emptiness.

_Foolish woman! _I snarled, letting the madness consume me. Why could she not have simply let me lie, honorably in death after saving her life? I found my lip shaking furiously as lips moved to her forehead, a crease between my brows as the beating life of her soul further faded, whispering below her chest a sorrowful goodbye...until there was nothing. Nothing but the crashing of frantic rain around the warriors that Kaji now led away from the scene of my Miko's dying breath. The world seemed to shake from the loss of her pure touch, from the loss of her warm eyes. The trees, that used to sing and dance around her wept in this downpour, scorning me for my callousness, my broken vow of protection. Her head fell from my shoulder and hung limply toward the sullen ground. I was left alone amongst the bloodshed and fallen youkai – my brothers, my family, and my love all lie in the wake of the hanyou.

A snarl passed furious lips and eyes flashed red. I would take my revenge for her soul, for her death this night would not be in vain. I would kill Naraku with the claws that clutched to her lingering spirit, but this night…I would not leave her side. At one time I would have thought the moment she had gone from my life I would be freed from her magic, yet…my chest fissured and cracked underneath my skin, killing the fire that was the youkai inside of me. He wept and howled for her, tearing apart the insides of my mind, for I had been the one to lose her and now the rational man had gone. My heart, which had only ever beat in time with hers was still beneath my chest. It silently broke through the mask I wore for the rest of the world and tore through the façade of my stoic gaze until I leaned over her silent corpse, unable to control my beast any longer. Bare fangs passed quivering lip, and warmth ran down from my red immortal eyes to her soft, lifeless shoulder.

"I have failed you," I managed as claws ran up her sides, rested on her back, and brought her back to my chest. "Miko...forgive me." My tears stained her pale cheeks and I cursed them for ever having fallen. My youkai had long given up on hiding himself. His cage lie, shattered as he mourned and wept for his lost mate. As I let him come forth and free me of the emptiness, I pressed my lips to hers, tasting her almost forgotten summer rain for the last time.

_I_, my eyes grew wide and the pain intensified as confession bubbled from my lips before my own mind was lost to this madness – vulnerable to this forsaken, everlasting feeling of emptiness that spread across me like black poison_. I love you_, I shared with her through the weak connection my youkai gripped onto as she faded away from me. My fangs dragged along her flesh as unfamiliar weight fell upon my shoulders and my demon came forth, crushing me. "I have always and yet I have failed you, my Kagome."

Smoothing my trembling lips over hers, their song one of goodbye, shaking arms let her slide easily to the wet ground. But as I brought Tokijin to my own throat, ready to end this miserable existence and meet her embrace in the afterlife, Tenseiga pulsed at my waist. Wide eyes met the pure blade, but hands did not find patience to wait for its second call to her and acted swiftly. Its purity flooded through my muscles as I gripped the hilt, my eyes turning red as the youkai of the afterlife licked her sweet skin and slashed chains around her middle. I did not hesitate to remove the blade from my waist and watch with eyes of the underworld as I sliced through their rotting flesh hatefully. When the carnage ended and the red of my eyes faded away with the icy winter breeze upon our exposed skin, the sweetest of sounds graced my ears and brought the warmth back into chest with a single harmonizing melody. The same melody that had picked up inside of me the moment Tenseiga called for her life. I took her flushed skin into my arms, the giver of her precious life all but forgotten in the soil beside us, as a voiceless heart began to sing again.

**A/N:**

**Yeah this totally says chapter 22 on FF, but it's only because I combined chapter's 2 and 3, and 4 and 5 and edited them so they actually match the later chapters. **

**Sorry this is really short, but really, it should have been added onto the last chapter and idk why when I uploaded it all those months ago I didn't realize this was missing. **

**I am still writing on this, but be patient. I'm going through some serious shit right now that makes this stupid thing I call like harder than it should be. There will only be like 3 more chapters and then this will be finished. **

**Thank you so much for all your continued support. I promise the next chapter will be like 10,000 words again, but for right now I'm seriously stuck in writers block and a bit of depression. So until next time.**

**Review.**

**PandaDee. **


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